Report: Ministerial reshuffle coming in Jordan

The Jordanian weekly al-Majd has said in its most recent issue that Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul Raouf al-Rawabedah intends to make a vast government reshuffle on the threshold of beginning the special session of the Jordanian nation council on May 29, adding the reshuffle will lead to excluding the premier's three deputies and another 10 ministers.

The paper quoted well-informed sources in Amman as saying that several parliament members will take part in the government instead of the outgoing ministers, with the objective of strengthening the role played by the government in the parliament.

The paper reported that the Jordanian Cabinet will take a decision soon to increase the basic salary for every parliamentarian to 1,500 Jordanian dinars.

The paper continued that these steps taken by al-Rawabedah aim at winning the support of the parliament in favor of the "economic reform program" which was agreed to by the government and the World Bank. The agreement calls for accelerating the privatization process, reducing customs fees and increasing sales taxes.

The paper also said that al-Rawabedah's supporters at the parliament started a campaign against statements made by the speaker of the Jordanian Parliament, Abdul Hadi al-Majali, to the Egyptian daily al-Ahram which quoted al-Majali as saying that "75 parliament members who used to have views in the morning will change these views in the evening."