A government reshuffle in Jordan to accelerate political and economic reforms
Jordan, Politics, 6/15/2000

A well-informed Jordanian source told the Lebanese Arabic daily al-Nahar that Jordan during next week will be witnessing a government reshuffle that would embody the attitude of King Abdullah to accelerate in economic and political reforms in the Kingdom.

The source stressed the king will assign a political figure from the young faces to form a new government in succession for the current Prime Minister Abdul Raouf al-Rawabdah whose government was formed in March 1999.

Since several days, Jordanian political sources speak about a nearby government reshuffle, while al-Rawabdah used to deny these news.

People close to al-Rawabdah told al-Nahar that he ( al-Rawabdah) telephoned the king on Wednesday and the king said that talks about the change are mere rumors and that he had renewed his confidence in the current government.

But observers indicate that al-Rawabdah did not accompany the king to receiving the Emir of Bahrain Sheikh Hamad Bin Issa al-Khaleifa who arrived in the Jordanian city of al-Aqaba on Wednesday. Al-Rawabdah also did not attend the official meeting between the two leaders ( Bahrain emir and the King ). The observers considered all these as an indicator that al-Rawabdah government will be reshuffled. A government which had faced great criticism because of its hesitation in making economic reforms and slowness in measures intending to make al-Aqaba a special economic zone.

Several sources expected that the king will ask parliament member Ali Abu al-Ragheb to compose a new government after the king had given several signals to this effect in the two past months. In April, the king assigned Abu al-Ragheb to chair a royal committee to study converting the city of al-Aqaba into a private economic zone. The king also choose Abu al-Ragheb in the same month as member in the consultation economic council which is considered a shadow government in Jordan.

The sources indicated that the king sided with Abu al-Ragheb who called in May to developing al-Aqaba city economically and to cancel legislation preventing this process, while al-Rawabdah refused that and saw in it a matter which would convert al-Aqaba into a smuggling area and eliminating its Jordanian identity in confrontation of its israeli neighbor Eilat on the other side of the Red sea of huge tourism investments.

Abu al-Ragheb is considered a member of the technocrat reformers in Jordan. Since 1991 he had several economic ministry and he is at the same time a member at the Jordanian parliament since 1993. In the Jordanian parliament he chairs the financial and economic committee.

Abu al-Ragheb did not deny possibilities of assigning him as a prime minister but he said that matters have not yet reached the official side " every thing is possible and the whole matter is at the hand of the King who is offered by the Jordanian constitution the right of quitting and forming governments.

Recently political sources in the kingdom tackled the names of several other candidates to chair the government. Among them are the chairman of the royal court Fayez al-Tarawenah, the director of the Jordanian intelligence Lt. Gen. Samih al-Bateikhi and the minister of commerce and industry Muhammad al-Haleyqah.

However, three ministers quitted from al-Rawabdah government, two reshuffles were made on it and some 54 Jordanian parliament members called for its resignation in April this year.

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