AMMAN — The government’s announcement on Sunday of a plan to merge several ministries and public institutions may not be a feasible action towards modernising the private sector, according to economists. 

 

Merging ministries will neither save money nor increase efficiency, because, as the government confirmed, the merging will not affect employees and will not result in any layoffs, economists interviewed by The Jordan Times said. 

 

Economist Wajdi Makhamreh said that merging ministries “will not be of much benefit and will not achieve the expected and required efficiency".

 

“We need to restructure and train employees on how to deal with citizens in a better way, as well as addressing administrative development. There must be evaluation processes for employees, and depending on that employees should be laid off, and some should retire,” Makhamreh said during a recent interview.

 

He also said that using new technology to meet citizens’ needs is what can actually save money and achieve efficiency rather than merging ministries.

 

“The government’s plan is unclear for the citizens and the ministries as well,” he added.

 

Hosam Ayesh, an economic adviser, said that the decision to merge certain ministries is just “an attempt to try new tools for the government”, noting that the government “itself is not confident that the mergers will be final”, pointing out that the plan will be subject to continued review.

 

“This decision will actually lead to increased costs if the results are not according to expectations,” Ayesh added, stressing that the modernisation plan was supposed to reduce costs, raise the level of service quality and save time and effort.

 

Ayesh also noted that labour ministries exist in almost all countries, therefore a merger is “a new experiment” in governmental administration 

 

“This does not mean that the government made a mistake in abolishing the Labour Ministry, but the problem will be with the work that the ministry was responsible for and how will it be conducted,” he stated.

 

Economic expert Isam Qadamani said that the merging of ministries will be “in vain” as long as the mechanisms by which the government and ministries operate do not change.

 

“Changing the mechanism, not the form of ministries should be the move, as merging is useless because every institution and every ministry has its own tasks and responsibilities,” Qadamani told The Jordan Times.

 

He added that merging the Labour Ministry with the Interior Ministry is illogical because they serve different purposes.

 

“The ministry of labour must be improved and developed instead of abolished, as it is important to protect the rights of workers, in addition to the decision putting a great burden on the private sector which is not ready at all,” said Qadamani.

 

Merging will not save money as there will be no layoffs, Qadamani added, stressing the need to put new work mechanisms in place to modernise the government, public sector and the services provided to citizens.