Public sector modernisation committee ‘an urgent necessity’ to revamp bureaucracy — PM

AMMAN — Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Bisher Khasawneh on Sunday chaired the first meeting of a committee formed by the government last week to modernise the public sector and said the panel's mandate has become “an urgent necessity” to uplift the state's overall bureaucracy.

The public sector, according to Khasawneh, has seen its general performance decline over the past years, stressing that “administrative reform is the springboard for any reform effort or development in other fields”.

The premier emphasised that administrative development and efficient administration are major levers for political and economic reform and the comprehensive reform that His Majesty King Abdullah calls for, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Khasawneh pointed out that the mandate of the committee is "a national effort aimed at improving the quality of services provided to citizens and raising the efficiency and effectiveness of public sector institutions”.

This is not the first time that Jordan seeks to modernise the public sector, the prime minister said, adding that in the mid-1990s, there were similar efforts, but they were not completed.

The prime minister explained that the committee will study "the problem that afflicted public administration" in order to bridge the gaps, draw a roadmap and take swift measures, and others in the medium term, to improve services and the performance of government employees and pursue automation and e-government.

Khasawneh pointed out that the decision to have him be the head of the committee is due to the importance of the goals that the committee seeks to achieve and for the committee to have easy access to information and to all ministries and government institutions.

While stressing the need for accountability, the prime minister called for rewarding high performers in the government sector and re-establishing a culture of public administration as a front for the public sector. 

According to Khasawneh, the civil service system has not kept pace with the spirit of the times, in light of "many elements and restrictions that govern its work”.

Khasawneh pointed out that the committee will set an institutional framework to improve services in the ministries, define priorities to be implemented quickly, rather than waiting for six months (the period specified for the end of the committee's mandate) and cut red-tape that negatively affects investment.