Oula Farawati reads the reshuffle of Jordan's government After months of speculation, Prime Minister Nader Dahabi reshuffled his less-than-five-month-old government in a move that analysts said was not carrying out fundamental change, but rather aims at extending the government's life. Only three key posts have been changed, namely finance, interior and foreign ministers. The service-oriented health, higher education and health ministers have also been changed, mainly to appease members of the lower house of parliament, who sharply criticised outgoing members of the cabinet. "Most of the ministers are technocrats, not political leaders, and thus can only be considered senior employees whose job is to carry out what is required from them," economist Fahed Fanek wrote in the pro-government Al-Rai. "None of these ministers even has a work agenda to carry out and be selected for." Political analyst Oraib Rintawi agreed, saying the reshuffle was "void of any political meaning" and was in essence "unamusing political folklore. We do not read a single political idea from the shuffle; it was not connected to a political event and is simply meaningless," he told Al-Ghad. Battered by a weakening economy, and a tense political environment both nationally and regionally, the government was criticised for failing to spur economic growth and spare Jordanians the adverse effects of the sharp rise in the prices of basic commodities especially food and fuel. Jordan witnessed double digit inflation in 2008, adding more political woes to a country that is poor in natural resources and dependent on foreign assistance. The reshuffle in government brought pro- free market reformer Bassem Salem to the post of finance minister; he served as labour minister in the pre-shuffle government. His appointment quells rumours that the reshuffle was aimed at sidelining figures close to former Royal Court Chief Bassem Awadallah, who resigned after his Western open market policies collided with the conservative, tribally-dominated government. But in terms of economic policy, the post-shuffle government will not change much, according to analysts who believe the various economic reform and growth projects shall remain the same, with the posts of planning and trade and industry remaining untouched. Political analyst Mohamed Abu Rumman said the political structure of the government might have improved, but added that he was unhappily surprised with the economic change, especially considering that Jordan was struggling to weather the adverse effects of the global credit crunch. "The effects of the world economic crisis are beginning to affect Jordan. We needed a better economic team to handle this," he said. But the appointment of Khaled Toukan, who holds a PhD in nuclear engineering from MIT, to the post of energy minister, signals the oil- parched kingdom's intent to lessen its dependence on fossil oil as a main source of energy. Leftist MP Bassam Haddadin saw the reshuffle as bringing in new ministers with "clean political and economic backgrounds. The new government will be more coherent, consistent and effective. This does not mean it has no weak points. But reshuffling a government is more difficult than putting together a new one, especially in light of the fact that Jordan has few political figures due to its weak party scene," he wrote in Al-Ghad. Haddadin is also happy with the appointment of Moussa Maaita as political development minister, since Maaita has a progressive leftist leaning. He was secretary-general of the Jordan Democratic Left Party. "I see this as sending a strong political message that the political arena will be wider and that the government is seriously considering pushing political development and reform way further," he said. Another significant political change was the appointment of Nayef Al-Qadi as interior minister, succeeding Eid Al-Fayez. Al-Fayez handled domestic politics with an iron fist. His police-style clampdown on protests against alleged rigging in parliamentary elections in 2007 antagonised civil rights groups and the Islamists. However, the appointment of Al-Qadi, who deported four Hamas leaders from Jordan in 1999, sends the message that Jordan no longer wants to mend relations with Hamas. Amman initiated talks with the militant group in mid-2008, before the political turmoil and war that swept and ravaged Gaza. News about the "imminent" reshuffle were leaked to the media over two months ago. There were strong rumours about lack of coherence between members of the cabinet and a tense relationship with members of parliament. Prime Minister Dahabi remained tight-lipped about the timing of the reshuffle and the posts that were going to be changed. This, according to political analyst Abu Rumman, only strengthened rumours and negatively affected the work of ministers, who were waiting for any news about whether they would stay or leave the government. "The prime minister sought secrecy in order to avoid any interference in the making of the new government, but he fell into the trap of giving fuel to rumours and speculation. This has resulted in an environment that marred the reshuffle," he wrote.
