Decentralisation committees hope national dialogue leads to ‘financial independence’

AMMAN — “I do not trust these attempts, since the main obstacle facing the newly implemented decentralisation policy, is the government and the Lower House,” said Haydar Awadeh, head of the Madaba media committee on decentralisation.

Awadeh, in remarks to The Jordan Times emphasised the “shortcomings” of the policy, saying: “We are still centralised par excellence”.

“The government thinks that the decentralisation councils robbed it of executive authority. We need to... reach financial and administrative independence,” added Awadeh.

Awadeh’s comments were on the national decentralisation dialogue session held on Wednesday. This session was held by The Economic and Social Council and in cooperation with the Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs.

During the session, Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Musa Maaytah said that the national dialogue would encompass all the economic, social and political aspects of decentralisation, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Maaytah expressed hope that the dialogue would contribute to reaching a clear, long-term national strategy for decentralisation, in terms of hoped-for outcomes and laws necessary to render the decentralisation effort a success.

The minister also said that young people would have an important role in the dialogue through the youth centres across the Kingdom.

The minister also highlighted the importance of finding a “true” strategy that can be presented to citizens, so that they can “feel” the decentralisation efforts’ progress and economic benefits.

Head of the decentralisation council in Balqa, Musa Awamleh, told The Jordan Times that the main goal of the dialogue is to amend the decentralisation legislation.

“There is an urgent need to amend the law since it has many gaps and is lacking authority,” said Awamleh.

“It is very important to amend the law for decentralisation to be implemented and practice its full role. Among the most important amendments [needed] is delegation of authority, in order to eliminate bureaucracy,” Awamleh added.

Head of Amman’s council, Ahmad Abdallat, also stressed the need to amend the decentralisation legislation.

According to Abdallat, a session was conducted two months ago with the participation of legislators, international and local stakeholders and the media, which resulted in draft recommendations for the law.

“The law is incompletem,” Abdallat told The Jordan Times, adding that, in its current form, local councils only have the ability to approve or reject decisions.

“We recommended that the local councils have the authority to prepare and approve the budget, and the authority to oversee the implementation of the budget,” said Abdallat.

The national dialogue is expected to finish next year, and will include activities implemented in cooperation with the chambers of industry and commerce, professional associations and parliamentarians.

Decentralisation committees hope national dialogue leads to ‘financial independence’