House votes for probe into Karak events

AMMAN — The Lower House on Tuesday postponed discussing a motion of no confidence in Interior Minister Salameh Hammad at the request of Deputy Prime Minister for Services and Minister of Education Mohammad Thneibat.

“The Lower House has the right to form a committee to investigate an official’s failure to perform his duties, but I plead with MPs not to rush any decision,” Thneibat said at the session.

A group of 48 MPs signed a memorandum and submitted it to the House presidency in December, requesting that the House move with a motion of no confidence against Hammad.

The signatories of the memo, initiated by Karak MP Musleh Tarawneh, cited Hammad’s “ill-handling” of the security incidents that erupted last week in Karak.

A total of 66 votes out of 130 are required to withdraw confidence in a minister.

In the security operations against “terrorist outlaws” in Karak, over 140km south of Amman, last month, 11 security personnel and three civilians died. 

Five terrorists were killed and another was arrested.

At Tuesday’s session, Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh said more than 30 MPs have signed a memo to form an investigative committee to  look into any failures related to these security operations, hold those responsible to account, and make recommendations for further action. 

The House was divided between those MPs who urged an immediate vote on confidence in Hammad, as the constitutional right of the Lower House, and those who argued against rushing to judgement and calling for forming an investigative committee. 

“There is a public call for Hammad to resign, and we as MPs should immediately bring a vote of no confidence, as a moral obligation to those who have given their lives for Jordan,” Karak MP Saddah Habashneh said.

However, Riyadh Azzam (Irbid, 1st District), one of the MPs who signed the memo calling for an investigative committee, said: “The government and the Lower House are in the same boat. No one is protecting those who failed, yet we should avoid rushing to conclusions without the full facts.”

MPs decided to move ahead with forming an investigative committee to look into the security incidents.

Tarawneh later defended the decision to postpone discussion of the no-confidence motion, telling the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that the Constitution allows for delaying the discussion of such motions for no more than 10 days if the concerned minister or the Cabinet requests it.

The House’s approval of a memo calling for an investigation of the events in Karak, the speaker added, is a way for MPs to perform their oversight role, Petra reported.

Also during Tuesday’s session, MPs approved the amended tourism bill.

The law seeks to keep the tourism sector in line with rapid developments and decrease violations of stakeholders which affect the sector.

MPs voted to scrap a provision that enables the Cabinet to establish special administrative entities to run tourist sites based on a recommendation by the tourism minister.

Under the scrapped article, the entities would be allowed to apply for loans and accept donations and gifts.

Tourism Minister Lina Annab said Article 7 was added to address the legal situation of some tourist attractions “of a special nature”, where the ministry’s ability to administer them is hindered.

Lawmakers criticised Annab, describing her argument that the ministry cannot oversee some tourist attractions as a sign that she is incapable of performing her duties.

The House also voted to scrap an article that stipulated granting law enforcement authorities to the employees of the awareness and oversight unit at tourist facilities.

The bill will now be referred to the Senate for deliberations and endorsement.