A Cabinet Reshuffle Without New Ministers

For the first time in the history of Jordanian governments, a cabinet reshuffle has taken place without seeing any ministers leave or new ministers join the government.

I imagine that members of the Cabinet are feeling a mixture of surprise and satisfaction over the reshuffle, while those aspiring to ministerial positions are likely experiencing disappointment.

The reshuffle carried out by Prime Minister Jafar Hassan on Tuesday involved appointing two key members of his Cabinet as deputy prime ministers, alongside First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi.

It also confirmed Minister of Education Azmi Mahafzah in his position following a change in the ministry’s name.

Yet this unprecedented move in Jordan’s political history does not diminish its significance. The prime minister made a point of announcing and explaining the reshuffle to the public a day before it was implemented.

The Cabinet meeting following the reshuffle offered a second indication of its intended purpose, when the Council of Ministers decided to restructure its two most important committees under the leadership of the newly appointed deputy prime ministers.

The Economic Modernization and Development Committee will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Muhannad Shehadeh, while the Services, Infrastructure and Social Affairs Committee will be headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Local Administration Eng. Walid Al-Masri.

The prime minister is not inclined toward frequently changing ministers or rotating them, and he has emphasized this on more than one occasion. He believes that building a culture of teamwork is more effective than rotating individuals in pursuit of better results.

Under the governments pursuing modernization, the priority for state institutions appears to be implementing approved programs, fulfilling the tasks assigned to each institution, and, foremost, advancing major projects and sustaining efforts to improve services provided to citizens in sectors that the state considers top priorities, particularly education, healthcare and digital transformation.

In practical terms, the two deputy prime ministers have assumed responsibility for the key sectors and portfolios at the heart of the government’s program and its agenda for the next two years areas that will largely determine whether the government succeeds in delivering on the commitments outlined in its ministerial statement.

Projects under the Economic Modernization Vision and its two-year implementation program, along with development programs, are now under Minister Shehadeh, while programs aimed at improving services and infrastructure have been placed under Minister Al-Masri.

In this sense, the “non-ministerial” reshuffle is, in reality, a restructuring of the government’s decision-making apparatus, designed to ensure that the prime minister can accomplish the required tasks with the necessary speed and efficiency.

Any major change to the composition of the Cabinet at this point in the fiscal year could have disrupted the work of the Council of Ministers and its committees.

The government is currently working to complete its tasks for the current year, prepare next year’s budget, and lay the foundations for major national projects in sectors such as water, transportation and energy, among others.

Under such circumstances, maintaining stability within the government’s core decision-making structure—or what could be described as the prime minister’s team—is important to ensure continuity and sustainability in the government’s work, its decision-making process and its follow-up on implementation.

Some politicians and analysts may disagree with this leadership approach, particularly those accustomed to the previous practice of repeatedly reshuffling governments under the argument that new blood should be injected into the ministerial team.

It appears that this approach is no longer accepted at this stage, as cross-government programs are taking precedence over the political game of musical chairs that Jordan witnessed for decades.

Ultimately, the current government and its prime minister will face an assessment at the end of their tenure to determine how faithfully they have fulfilled the commitments they made before the National Assembly.

And the person who most frequently reminds others of this standard for evaluating the government’s performance is the prime minister himself.