ESC national dialogues show 61% participants against abolishing Labour Ministry

AMMAN — The Economic and Social Council of Jordan (ESC) on Monday launched the outcomes of a series of national dialogues regarding the Public Sector Modernisation Roadmap. 

During the event, Director of Economic and Social Council of Jordan Musa Shteiwi said that the ESC conducted dialogues in every governorate between September 21 and December 14, 2022.

The discussions involved representatives from various segments of society and parties from both the private and the public sector, he noted.

Participants included elected representatives, such as members of parliament, the Senate and provisional councils as well as municipal councillors, heads of unions, chambers of industry and commerce leaders, in addition to civil society organisations, university presidents, students and academics, according to Shteiwi. 

Organised over a period of three months, the dialogues focused on three main areas: Organisational structure and governance, human resources and governmental services, he said. 

The goal is to “deepen” social partners’ understanding of the importance of the roadmap and “give the relevant parties the opportunity to convey their views and positions on the plan and its elements”, which will be taken into consideration in the ESC’s recommendations to the government, Shteiwi added. 

The ESC’s report on the outcomes of the dialogues, made available to The Jordan Times, showed that the overwhelming majority of participants and government leaders, at 61 per cent, voted against abolishing the Ministry of Labour and redistributing its functions among other governmental entities. 

It also demonstrated that 80 per cent of participants in the dialogues and 95 per cent of government leaders voted in favour of establishing a government communication ministry. 

Moreover, 81 per cent of participants supported the plan to merge the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, citing its importance in the development of infrastructure and increasing coordination, according to the ESC. 

However, the overwhelming majority of government leaders, 58 per cent, voted against that plan, the report showed. 

It also stated that 87 per cent of participants in the dialogues and 82 per cent of government leaders agreed with the decision to merge the Ministry of Youth and the Ministry of Culture. 

Additionally, over two-thirds of participants and government favoured merging the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research into the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, the report said. 

The majority of parties also supported the plan to abolish the Civil Service Bureau, restructure its role and replace it with the Civil Service and Public Administration Commission, it added. 

Participants in dialogue sessions believed that this step will contribute to enhancing current government recruitment mechanisms by ensuring that the system is merit-based with increased oversight to counter nepotism and favouritism, it continued. 

The majority of participants agreed on the importance of establishing a digital government to improve the level of services provided to citizens, stressing the importance of infrastructural developments to achieve that goal, the report said. 

The ESC also noted that a number of important issues that aren’t included in the roadmap were raised during the dialogues, such as the reasons and justifications behind merging and abolishing government institutions and the existence of a plan for financial reform that coincided with the administrative reform, among others.