GAM under fire for award ceremony, ‘unnecessary spending’

AMMAN — Whilst under fire for “extravagant spending” at a time of economic difficulty, the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) said the much-criticised awarding ceremony organised recently by the Al Amal Foundation For Art Production was driven by “patriotic duty”.

Many people took to social media to criticise the GAM for allegedly spending “a lot of money” on sponsoring a celebration and paying Arab celebrities to take part.

In their comments, social media users accused the GAM of “wasting money” on unnecessary events while the municipality, and the whole country, is struggling economically.

MP Shuaib Shdeifat submitted a memorandum to the Lower House’s permanent office, to be forwarded to the government, to disclose the amounts the GAM spent on the celebration.

In the memo, a copy of which was seen by The Jordan Times, Shdeifat asked to be provided with the exact amount of money the GAM spent on the celebration and accommodation of the Arab celebrities.

He also demanded, in the memo, that the respective authorities present their reasoning for organising the event despite the country’s economic difficulties.

In a statement carried by Al Rai newspaper on Wednesday, the GAM said that the aim of the celebration was to launch national songs by Jordanian singer Omar Abdallat and honour a number of “Arab guests”, including the poet.

“Although there were some mistakes”, the GAM insisted that the celebration was held for “noble, patriotic” reasons, as quoted by Al Rai.