Minister outlines decentralisation draft by-law

AMMAN — The draft by-law governing the decentralisation of governorate councils, which has been endorsed by the Cabinet recently, replaces the existing executive and advisory boards working at the level of governorate, a senior official said. 

In a press statement, Interior Minister Hussein Majali said the new councils will include mayors, presidents of charitable societies, heads of women and farmers’ union branches, and presidents of industry and commerce chambers, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The Amman mayor, Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority chief commissioner and president of the Petra Development Tourism Region Authority will serve as members of the councils to be set up in Amman, Aqaba and Maan, respectively, he explained. 

Majali noted that the by-law, which was drafted along with a new municipalities bill, stipulates the election of the president and vice president of each governorate council for two years.

The new councils will be authorised to take a number of decisions related to governorate budget and strategic plans, and will identify their needs of services and development projects. 

The council members will also be able to monitor the performance of municipalities and government agencies, endorse the municipalities’ capital projects and examine housing and investment schemes implemented in their respective districts. 

The minister noted that the Cabinet’s decision is in line with the Royal vision on decentralisation, a key component of the reform process aimed at engaging people in policy and decision making related to their areas, according to Petra.    

Majali added that the committee decided that the regulations governing the issue should take the form of a by-law to make it flexible and updatable (without the need to go to Parliament).