Jordan’s King Abdullah reshuffled his cabinet yesterday but retained Hani Mulki as prime minister with more scope to face militants and to press ahead with unpopular IMF-mandated reforms to cut rising public debt.
The reshuffle, the second since the business-friendly Mulki was appointed last May, came at a time of sluggish economic growth and poor business sentiment.
The five new ministers entering the cabinet include former police chief Ghaleb Zubi as interior minister and Ayman Safadi, a long-time adviser to the royal family, as foreign minister, according to a palace statement.
Safadi, whose appointment was a surprise, replaces Nasser Joudeh, who had served as Jordan’s chief diplomat since 2009.
Outgoing interior minister Salamah Hamad narrowly avoided a vote of no-confidence in parliament over his handling of an Islamic State attack in the southern city of Karak last month in which at least nine people, including a Canadian tourist and members of the security forces, were killed.
In another major security lapse, a Jordanian guard shot dead three members of the US special forces at an airbase last November.
Jordan is among the closest allies of the United States in the Middle East region.
In his first comments after the cabinet reshuffle, Mulki defended the arrest last Thursday of a group of prominent retired army and security officers who criticised the monarch and blamed security breaches on what they said was rampant official corruption.
“Freedom of speech does not mean agitation or chaos...We respect freedom of expression as long as it does not violate the higher national interest,” Mulki told a parliamentary session.
International rights groups say there has been an erosion in public liberties with stepped up arrests of peaceful dissenters. Finance Minister Omar Malhas kept his job in the reshuffle. He is overseeing a tough three-year programme agreed with the International Monetary Fund that aims to cut public debt to 77% of national output GDP by 2021 from 94% now.
Politicians and economists say the tough fiscal consolidation plan, which includes raising taxes on basic food and fuel items in the coming months and cutting subsidies, will worsen the plight of poorer Jordanians. Removing subsidies has triggered civil unrest in the past. Jordan’s economy is expected to have grown by 2.4% last year, below an IMF target of 2.8%.