Al-Anani writes about administrative reform: Stop this joke

Prime Minister Dr. Bisher Al-Khasawneh is a wise man, but inexperienced. He intends to do the right thing, but his intentions often lead to unforeseen consequences. This was clearly demonstrated by the administrative reform plan he presented a few days ago. If administrative reform means dismantling some ministries, severing ties with some institutions, or merging others, then this is precisely what we have experienced in Jordan for four decades. During this time, we have witnessed a decline in performance, a drop in productivity, and a significant increase in government costs for taxpayers.

Each time, the dismantling and restructuring proposals came from biased people, or the subject was not studied in depth, because governments, including this government, did not provide us with a single convincing reason that their administrative procedures were justified, or explain to us how these arrangements serve government performance, or how these unremarkable proposals are consistent with the "2033" vision and contribute to its achievement.

Administrative reform should have focused on addressing the shortcomings in the capacity and knowledge of departments and employees, improving their performance and ability to serve the public, developing their conduct, preventing corrupt individuals from handling public affairs, and encouraging high-achieving employees. The reform should have also focused on defining the fundamental strategic objectives of the economic vision and building administrative systems capable of achieving and realizing those objectives.

We had to adopt an administrative reform strategy by making better choices for those who work in public service, setting conditions for those who deserve promotion, and setting clear specifications for those who assume administrative positions in government departments and ministries.

We had to ensure that the institutions, ministries, and related departments worked in a way that maximized their capacity, did not exhaust their strengths and dissipate their harmony, and did not turn them into separate silos with no relation to each other, which creates duplication of work and endless annoyance for citizens, both individuals and institutions.

We forgot all of this and replaced it with the following:

Abolishing the Ministry of Labor and distributing its remnants among other ministries does not enhance the value of achievement, but rather creates a unique contradiction. What sane person would abolish the Ministry of Labor when it has become so important to regulate the relationship between employers and workers? Instead of strengthening the ministry, which was transformed from a department within the Ministry of Social Affairs into a ministry in 1976, we have come today to abolish it. This is something that has no parallel in the world. What country does not have a Ministry of Labor?

We sent the training to a ministry that we named instead of the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, as if this ministry would play the role of regulating the demand for and supply of labor. What will happen to the students who leave schools? Or those who are satisfied with the compulsory education stage? And those who fail the high school exam, will this ministry train and prepare them in accordance with education policies? And what will be the results of this additional burden on the performance of