Governorate councils to convene on September 10

AMMAN — Interior Minister Ghaleb Zu'bi on Thursday directed governors to summon the governorate councils to convene on September 10, at 10am for their first meeting, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The meeting is stipulated in Article 33 of the 2015 Decentralisation Law. 

The minister stressed the importance of the meeting as a “milestone in the history of the Jordanian state to enhance local governance”.  

Governorate councils, which were elected on August 15 along with municipal councils and mayors, replace assigned consultative councils with local executive councils, in a bid to enhance the oversight role of citizens and public participation in decision making as developmental planning and allocation of funds will be vested in the new councils.

Article 6 of the law stipulates that the Cabinet appoints as members of the governorate council, upon a recommendation by the interior minister, no more than 15 per cent of the number of elected members, provided that one-third of this percentage is allocated to women, who also enjoy a 10 per cent quota of the elected members.