Nepotism and corruption enemies of debt-crippled Jordan

Economy sags in country with scant agriculture, tourism, energy and rule of law

Elderly men talk to each other in downtown Amman. Photograph: Muhammad Hamed/Reuters
Elderly men talk to each other in downtown Amman. Photograph: Muhammad Hamed/Reuters

The taxi nuzzles gently into dense rush-hour traffic as car headlamps flicker over the walls of white stone villas and residential and office blocks.

High in the sky, flashing red lights atop tinted glass towers and skeletal cranes over unfinished blocks warn aircraft of their presence in the jagged skyline of Amman.

Jordan’s sprawling capital city encompasses nine hills, two more than ancient Rome, and is encroaching on the desert. Late model cars move from district to district through eight traffic circles.

The city hosts dozens of five-star and lesser hotels, scores of universities and vocational centres, designer clothes shops, expensive restaurants, districts of elegant villas, ranks of multistorey apartments for the middle class and squalid neighbourhoods where the poor struggle to survive.

Amman has four million residents in a country of 10 million. When I first visited the city in 1961, Jordan was a modest country of one million surviving on meagre resources with a little help from its friends. I stayed with a university class- mate whose home was on the edge of the city. Milk was delivered each morning by a shepherd with a herd of goats.

Traffic was light then; parking no problem. Luxury cars were few. King Hussein’s mother Queen Zain rode in a stately hand-made Rolls Royce inherited from Iraq’s last monarch, Faisal II, who was assassinated in 1958 aged 23.

There was one comfortable hotel, the old Philadelphia near the second century Roman amphitheatre. Clever students went to Egyptian or Lebanese universities; many young people emigrated. Today their remittances help keep Jordan afloat.

Growing population

The ever-expanding, monumental white stone capital now weighs heavily on this small country with no natural resources, a growing population, and a public debt of 95 per cent of gross domestic product.

At the end of May, Jordanian unions called a one-day strike strike and thousands took to the streets to protest against tax increases and rises in fuel and electricity prices. The government fell and Omar Razzaz, a popular technocrat, was named prime minister.

October 20, 2018 | 9 Comments »

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  1. @ Edgar G.: Edgar, here is the full article about Jordan’s dydfunctional society from the Irish Times:

    Nepotism and corruption enemies of debt-crippled Jordan
    Economy sags in country with scant agriculture, tourism, energy and rule of law

    The taxi nuzzles gently into dense rush-hour traffic as car headlamps flicker over the walls of white stone villas and residential and office blocks.

    High in the sky, flashing red lights atop tinted glass towers and skeletal cranes over unfinished blocks warn aircraft of their presence in the jagged skyline of Amman.

    Jordan’s sprawling capital city encompasses nine hills, two more than ancient Rome, and is encroaching on the desert. Late model cars move from district to district through eight traffic circles.

    The city hosts dozens of five-star and lesser hotels, scores of universities and vocational centres, designer clothes shops, expensive restaurants, districts of elegant villas, ranks of multistorey apartments for the middle class and squalid neighbourhoods where the poor struggle to survive.

    Amman has four million residents in a country of 10 million. When I first visited the city in 1961, Jordan was a modest country of one million surviving on meagre resources with a little help from its friends. I stayed with a university class- mate whose home was on the edge of the city. Milk was delivered each morning by a shepherd with a herd of goats.

    Traffic was light then; parking no problem. Luxury cars were few. King Hussein’s mother Queen Zain rode in a stately hand-made Rolls Royce inherited from Iraq’s last monarch, Faisal II, who was assassinated in 1958 aged 23.

    There was one comfortable hotel, the old Philadelphia near the second century Roman amphitheatre. Clever students went to Egyptian or Lebanese universities; many young people emigrated. Today their remittances help keep Jordan afloat.

    Growing population

    The ever-expanding, monumental white stone capital now weighs heavily on this small country with no natural resources, a growing population, and a public debt of 95 per cent of gross domestic product.

    At the end of May, Jordanian unions called a one-day strike strike and thousands took to the streets to protest against tax increases and rises in fuel and electricity prices. The government fell and Omar Razzaz, a popular technocrat, was named prime minister.

    Jordanian unions called a one-day strike strike and thousands took to the streets to protest against tax increases and rises in fuel and electricity prices
    He reversed price hikes but had no option but to keep an amended tax law mandated by the International Monetary Fund.

    Razzaz and his staff mounted a campaign to explain the government’s tax policy but this failed to sway public opinion. A recent poll shows only 30 per cent of the public and 35 per cent of opinion makers believe Jordan is following a correct course. A cabinet reshuffle is expected. In a bid to boost his waning popularity, he has downsized and reshuffled his cabinet to meet popular demands to fight nepotism and corruption.

    In his address to the opening session of parliament, King Abdullah strengthened the pledge of the new government by stating, “Jordanians have an equal right to justice and corruption will not be left unaddressed to become a chronic social illness.”

    King Abdullah II of Jordan gives the throne speech at the inauguration of the 18th parliament’s third session in Amman. Photograph: Amel Pain
    King Abdullah II of Jordan gives the throne speech at the inauguration of the 18th parliament’s third session in Amman. Photograph: Amel Pain
    Over dinner at the home of friends, talk was dominated by the need to apply the “rule of law” to the privileged as well as others in order to deal with resentment over commercial corruption and tax-dodging by the wealthy.

    By “they” he meant indebted, jobless and hard-pressed people; by “we,” the establishment which has failed to initiate reforms and collect taxes from the wealthy.

    “They” are people who borrow from banks to buy homes, cars and smart phones. If they are public employees, banks collect money owed from their salaries every month, reducing amounts families have to spend, creating resentment.

    Self-immolation

    On October 4th, a municipal employee in a provincial city died after setting himself alight to protest against cuts in bonuses on which some families depend to purchase essentials.

    Rampant consumption combined with a feeling of entitlement among all classes has created a major crisis in Jordan. Once again its friends have come to the rescue. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates transferred $1 billion (€870 million) of a pledged $2.5 billion to the central bank to rescue the country’s currency.

    Devaluation would have been disastrous. The Gulf countries have also promised $500 million in budgetary support, $500 million in credits for specific projects and $200 million in World Bank guarantees.

    Ex-minister of state for economic affairs Yousef Mansour says that since 2010 Jordan has suffered “a very, very long depression”. Its growth was below 3 per cent before the influx of Syrian refugees caused by that countries war, and was now at 2.2-2.3 per cent, he said.

    “This is below the population growth rate. Some 1.2 million Syrian refugees have been a heavy burden on Jordan which already hosts two million Palestinian refugees dependent on the UN for services as well as hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, Egyptians, Yemenis and others,” he says.

    Due to Jordan’s tribal and clan-based society, civil servants are often hired “on the basis of kinship rather than merit”, he adds.

    Men say Friday prayers on a street outside al-Husainy mosque in Amman. Photograph: Muhammad Hamed/Reuters
    Men say Friday prayers on a street outside al-Husainy mosque in Amman. Photograph: Muhammad Hamed/Reuters
    About 57 per cent of the labour force comprises bureaucrats and pensioners who consume most of the budget. “There is no money to spend on schools, roads, healthcare or public transport. The government has to borrow money to pay salaries. The public refuses to admit its [entitlement/consumerist] mindset is unacceptable,” says Mansour.

    ‘Bad marriage’

    “We cannot sustain this situation for [another] two or three years unless significant changes take place,” he states. The new government had allowed “protests across the country to prevent demonstrators from coming to Amman. Razzaz thought he had the street but he does not. The contract between the government and the people is like a bad marriage. There is no end in sight.”

    Lawyer Anis Kassem argues, “Jordan has nothing. Agriculture and tourism are extremely limited. After the demise of Iraq [following the 2003 US occupation] Jordan no longer received cheap oil.” Energy prices were high, he added.

    “There is talk about corruption but no one mentions who is responsible. Corruption is a luxury we cannot afford. Corruption is undermining the fabric of the society. There is strong opposition to the income tax law. People say, ‘Before you tax us, collect the money [the wealthy] took away’.

    ‘There is talk about corruption but no one mentions who is responsible’
    “Money coming in is in soft loans which should be invested in productive activities but is not. Construction of high-rise office buildings continues although many have 10 per cent occupancy. The public sector was privatised to pay back the national debt, but the debt increased.

    “No one has come up with a plan for Jordan’s salvation.”

  3. King Abdullah declines to renew part of Jordan’s peace deal with Israel
    Part of the agreement was that Jordan would lease sovereign Jordanian land to Israel.

    In a surprise announcement, Jordan said Sunday that it will not renew its lease to Israel of the Naharayim (Baqura) area near the Kinneret nor part of Zofar (al Ghamar), some 120 km north of Eilat.

    Under the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace agreement, these two areas “will fall under Jordanian sovereignty with Israeli private land use rights. These rights include unimpeded freedom of entry to, exit from and movement within the area. These areas are not subject to customs or immigration legislation.

    These rights will remain in force for 25 years and will be renewed automatically for the same period unless either country wishes to terminate the arrangement, in which case consultations will be taken.”

    According to the agreement, the annex governing the two areas “will remain in force for 25 years, and shall be renewed automatically for the same periods, unless one year prior notice of termination is given by either Party, in which case, at the request of either Party, consultations shall be entered into.”

    October 25 marks that one year deadline.

    The Royal Palace issued a statement on Sunday saying that “Baqura and Ghamr areas have always been our top priority, and our decision is to end Article 2 of Annexes I (b) of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty, emanating from our keenness to take whatever is necessary for Jordan and the Jordanians.”

    Prime Minister Benmajmin Netanyahu said that Israel would enter into negotiations with Jordan over the matter.

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    While Netanyahu made no mention of this, there are certain benefits to Jordan – such as allowing planes going to and from the country from Europe and other points west to overfly Israel on the way to and from Jordan – that could be used as leverage to convince Amman to change its mind.

    Speaking of the Jordanian announcement at a memorial service on the 23rd anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, who signed the treaty with Jordan, Netanyahu said that “there is no doubt that from a comprehensive perspective, the entire agreement is an important asset, important and valuable to both countries.”

    Already in March, the Jordan Times reported that Amman was mulling terminating the treaty annexes, with Foreign Minister Ayman saying in parliament in response to a question about the issue that “the government is currently examining its decision regarding the nature of use of the Baqura and Ghumar areas in a way that serves the higher national interests,” Safadi said.

    According to the report, ending the Israeli lease of the Baqoura and Ghumar areas has been a pressing demand of MPs, political parties and activists.

    This from today’s Jerusalem Post. Not an encouraging sign. Plainly, some influential Jordanians would like to kick out the “State of Palestine” and retake the “West Bank” for Jordan. This might create a basis for an agreement with Israel. On the other hand, the extreme hostility to Israel in Jordan, and the dominamce of Islamist parties there to which the King is playing up, are a major obstacle to any such agreement.

  4. @ adamdalgliesh:
    Can’t figure out the Mac Air and I find the current PCs a headache, too. Try a Chromebook. I’m very happy with mine. Does nearly everything the others do but it’s much easier to use.

  5. @ Edgar G.: Edgar, my computer skills are nothing to write home about! As for my computer, it is a hopeless “lemon” (An Apple Mac Air–I don’t know how that company ever acquired its good reputation!

  6. Protest in Jordan: Cancel peace treaty with Israel
    Demonstrators in Amman call on Jordanian government to take action to return areas in Israel to Jordanian sovereignty.

    King Abdullah II of Jordan
    A mass demonstration was held in Amman, the capital of Jordan, on Friday, in which protesters demanded that the lands of Baqoura (Naharayim) and Ghumar (in the Arava region) be returned to Jordanian hands.

    According to the 1994 peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, these areas are currently under Israeli control for 25 years, and after the end of the lease period, each party may demand to cancel the existing arrangement.

    The demonstrators called on the government to demand that these territories return to Jordanian sovereignty, and also called to cancel the peace agreement with Israel, expel the Israeli ambassador and close the Israeli embassy.

    “The people want national honor,” and “the story is about national sovereignty,” the demonstrators shouted.

    Despite the fact that Jordan has a peace treaty with Israel, the country’s parliament, which is made up mostly of Islamists, remains anti-Israel and its members have more than once called to annul the peace treaty.

    Last year, the Jordanian parliament approved a proposal to establish a committee to reevaluate all formal ties with Israel, including the peace agreement. That decision does not necessarily mean that the peace accords with Israel will be annulled, as such a decision requires the approval of the government, the royal palace and the council advising Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

    Last summer, Jordanian lawmakers voiced support for three terrorists who murdered two Israeli Border Police officers near the Temple Mount, praising them as “martyrs”.

    Several years ago, Jordan MPs unanimously demanded the government expel the Israeli ambassador from Amman as a punitive measure after detectives in Israel detained the mufti of Jerusalem on the Temple Mount.

    This article in today’s Arutz Sheva , however, raises doubts as to whether public opinion in Jordan will ever let its government make peace with Israel.

  8. @ Edgar G.: Actually, Edgar, his article is much longer than what appears here. See https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/nepotism-and-corruption-enemies-of-debt-crippled-jordan-1.3669302. The rest of the article describes the prevalence of corruption in Jordan, the countries lack of productive resources, the fact that it is being subsidized only by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, widespread popular discontent and anger. Seems to confirm a lot of what Mudar Zahran has said about Jordan.

  9. This seems only like the very first chapter of an article, yet it’s the whole thing…. What was the purpose of it, other than to earn the writer a few Euros. There isn’t even any information in it,…other than he had a classmate from Jordan, and the Jordan Queen (mother) “inherited” a Rolls Royce from a 23 year old Iraqi kid who was assassinated. (he and his whole family were actually lined up and executed-shades of the Russian Royal Family)

    I’m not surprised that in the huge unrest there all through his “reign”, he had a will already made…. These were also Hashemites, 1st cousins to the Jordan Hashemites , and certainly…if nothing else… had the knack…of making themselves “popular”…

    I think this Irishman should have had more than his regulation amount of booze, before writing anything..Then we might at least, have read something of interest..

    Oh yes, one very important “fact” ….The young people who emigrated from Jordan nearly 60 years ago send back money to keep the country “afloat”…. Now a prime example of an “…..Arab” lie if I ever saw one.