Jordanian PM reshuffles cabinet for 7th time, to mixed response

Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh has reshuffled his government for the seventh time, as he enters what many expect will be his last year as PM. The changes include appointing technocrats in the Ministries of Government Communications, Labor, Industry and Trade, and the Public Works and Housing. The biggest surprise was the last-minute decision to drop two members of parliament (MPs) who were slated to become ministers.

Saleh Al-Armouti, an MP and former head of the Bar Association, confirmed on a local radio station that turning MPs into ministers is a violation of the constitutional division of the three branches.

“Members of parliament are elected by the people to oversee the work of the government and not become part of the government,” he told Jordanian news station Radio Al-Balad.

Walid Hosni, a veteran parliamentary reporter, confirmed to The Media Line that there was uproar in parliament over the expected appointments.

“MPs wanted to know on what basis the prime minister chose some ministers over others,” he said.

Who are the new ministers?

Omar Al Aisra is a maverick MP who flipped from being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood to becoming a strong defender of government policies, including passionate support for the controversial cyber-crime law. Aisra was relieved of his position as media affairs minister. Another MP, Khair Abu Salik, was also rejected at the last moment for a nomination. Abu Salik, a businessman and popular MP from a Negev Bedouin tribe, was slated to become minister of investment.

The new government spokesman Muhannad Mubeidin, who will head the newly established Government Communications Ministry, is a veteran journalist who worked on both Jordanian public TV and the independent Roya TV station. He was also the spokesman for the Royal Modernization Committee that recommended reforms for political parties and electoral laws.

The reshuffle includes the splitting of merged cabinets. The Labor Ministry, which was slated to be closed, is back as a separate ministry headed by Nadia Rawabdeh, the former director of the Social Security Agency. The Transportation Ministry will also split away from the Industry Ministry and will be headed for the first time by a female minister, Wisam Al Tahamtoni. This gives Khasawneh’s government the largest female representation in any government, with seven female ministers in total.

While most of the removed cabinet ministers will be sent home, Wajih Azaizeh will stay on as a cabinet minister without a portfolio. Azaizeh is a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, and the decision to keep him is seen as a positive signal to Palestinians who are Jordanian citizens. The water and irrigation minister, Mohammed Al Najjar, has been criticized publicly for removing the subsidies on domestic water while keeping it unchanged for business, industry, and tourism, and has been replaced by Raed Abu Soud, a former water minister.

Labor Ministry is reinstated 

Ahmad Awad, the founder and director of the Phenix Center for Economic and Informatics Studies, praised the decision to reinstate the Labor Ministry as a separate ministry.

“It is a positive step that the Labor Ministry has returned,” he said. “It is an important ministry to help regulate and enforce the law and guarantee that work conditions are respected. [Rawabdeh] has a hard job. The ministry’s role has retracted on all levels, including overseeing work conditions and forcing the private sector to respect labor laws.”

“She is a bureaucratic appointment, and I am optimistic about her appointment because she is knowledgeable of the challenges due to her previous positions,” Awad added.

The reshuffle was not without strong criticism. Veteran columnist Usama Rantisi argued that the cabinet change has nothing to do with the performance of the ministers.

“We will not accept from the president the permanent justification for any cabinet reshuffle—[we need] to improve government performance and enhance teamwork, in preparation for a new phase of work and dealing with challenges,” he said.

Rantisi praised Khasawneh as a “respectable, noncorrupt, kind and harmless” premier, but demanded more justification for his decisions.

“I challenge him to announce to the Jordanian public one decision that his government has accomplished since he came to power that has contributed to alleviating the economic and living crisis in which we are living,” he wrote on his site Alawal News.