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Ammon News - Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh said on Tuesday that the public sector modernization roadmap, which the government unveiled recently, will not infringe on the rights of employees and that no employees in merged government entities will lose their jobs.

"Not any employee in the institutions that will be merged will be fired, but they will be absorbed into these entities with their rights fully preserved," he said in remarks at a ceremony to honor winners of the ideal civil service employee award, in its 13th edition.

He told the ceremony, which was attended by ministers and secretaries general and directors, that the merger process will take two to four years, depending on the nature of the institutions or departments involved.

The public sector modernization roadmap will be presented to the Council of Ministers for final approval, and that task forces will be formed for implementation, he said, stressing that the blueprint is "not rigid, but is subject to modification and evaluation," pledging openness to productive and constructive ideas.

He said the proposed institutional mergers are not the only pillar in the roadmap to modernize the public sector, but there are other key pillars, including the promotion and reproduction of the institutional culture and betterment of governmental services and environment, as the key goal of any public administration is to offer optimal service to the citizens.

Khasawneh pointed out that the roadmap promotes the principle of reward and punishment and fair competition among employees, noting that the ideal employee award is one of its aspects.

The roadmap for modernizing the public sector will herald in a new era and a milestone in the Jordanian state with the start of its second centennial, along with the political and economic tracks, he said, pledging that the government will exert utmost efforts to bring about a "qualitative leap" in all spheres.

The prime minister said honoring a new group of outstanding civil servants comes in conjunction with the government's completion of all axes of the broader modernization scheme, including updating legislation governing political modernization and putting it into force, and launching the economic modernization vision, towards which the Council of Ministers formed ministerial committees and sectoral task forces to put it into implementation over the next ten years.

For his part, Civil Service Bureau President Sameh Al-Nasser stressed the need to bring about drastic change in the government apparatus to instill the culture of excellence, productivity, accountability and creativity.

He said 863 male and female employees from 73 government entities were nominated for the ideal employee award this year, and 30 have won, adding that three institutions have won more than one award by their employees, including the Social Security Corporation, the National Agricultural Research Center and the Civil Consumer Corporation.