Ministry seeks engagement of top gov’t officials in services reform plan

AMMAN – The Ministry of Public Sector Development has launched a programme to engage top officials in ministries and government agencies aimed to improve the quality of services offered to citizens.

On Wednesday, Minister of Public Sector Development Khleef Al Khawaldeh met with 23 directors of government departments and urged them to work out applicable mechanisms to take government services to the next level. 

The minister told The Jordan Times over the phone that the meeting was a step to follow up on His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives in his Speech from the Throne during the inauguration of Parliament on November 2, when he urged action not words when it comes to administrative reform.

"On the administrative reform path, it is crucial to adopt workable mechanisms, as there is no point in having public sector reform programmes, including the e-government project, if citizens do not feel a tangible improvement in the quality of services provided to them,” the minister said at the meeting, according to a statement by his ministry.

In the speech, His Majesty stressed on the importance of having all state institutions commit to enhancing the culture of excellence, transparency and accountability.

To achieve the goal, the ministry is targeting the people in charge of state agencies’ day-to-day operations, like secretaries general and general directors, according to officials in charge of the programme.

Khawaldeh said the ministry’s main concern is to make sure that any plans to improve services would reflect on people and make their lives easier. 

The ministry would also use the results of unannounced visits its teams have been carrying out to various government departments to serve this purpose, he added. 

According to the statement, the ministry will issue an annual report assessing the response of each department to complaints filed by the public regarding the services they offer. 

Khawaldeh noted that ministry teams have carried out over 65 unannounced visits to a number of government institutions to assess the quality of their services and to identify public perception of government services.