Jordan’s opposition Islamic Action Front (IAF) attacked King Abdullah’s appointment of a new prime minister as ‘inappropriate” and has blamed the new incumbent, Marouf Bakhit Bakhit, for presiding over corruption, electoral fraud and mismanagement during an earlier term as premier.
IAF spokesperson Zaki Bani Rashid described the ‘bitter experience” of Bakhit’s first term in an interview with the Ammanet website. As the political shockwaves from Egypt continued to reverberate across the Arab world, Jordan’s former prime minister, Samir al-Rifai, resigned after weeks of protest by Jordanians calling on him to step down.
The monarch asked Bakhit to take ‘practical, swift and tangible steps to launch a real political reform process, in line with the king’s vision of comprehensive reform, modernisation and development”, said a statement from the royal palace.
Abdullah has dismissed prime ministers in the past, but the background of protest at home and the intense focus on Egypt gave added significance to the move, which was immediately seen as an extension of spreading regional unrest.
Bakhit, prime minister from 2005 to 2007, also served in the sensitive posts of national security chief and Jordan’s ambassador to Israel. As a member of the al-Abbadi tribe, he is considered a loyal member of the country’s East Bank elite.
Demonstrators had demanded Rifai’s departure in demonstrations that began after last Friday’s prayers in Amman’s main mosques and they were given added impetus by the dramatic events in Cairo.
Inspired by the Tunisian uprising, the Jordanian unrest also focused on poverty and the well-heeled Rifai’s apparent inability to offer relief. Protests about poverty, inflation, unemployment, corruption and a lack of democracy have been going on for weeks. The IAF, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, is now playing an active opposition role and has been calling for political reform, while still treading carefully.
‘There is no comparison between Egypt and Jordan,” IAF leader Hamzeh Mansur said. ‘The people there demand a regime change, but here we ask for political reform and an elected government.” Abdullah has promised reform, particularly of election law. But it is unlikely that he will surrender his right to appoint the prime minister and Cabinet officials.
Officially, unemployment stands at about 14% in this country of six million people, 70% of them under 30. The minimum wage is $211 a month and poverty levels are 25%, and the capital, Amman, is the most expensive city in the Arab world.
Many ordinary Jordanians also vehemently oppose the 1994 peace treaty with Israel, signed by the late King Hussein, which is at the heart of the country’s close alliance with the United States, an alliance that was strengthened by the war in neighbouring Iraq. –Guardian News & Media 2011