Ammon News - By Nermeen Murad

I watch and read the news day in and day out, and it all seems like a surreal movie that passes in front of me, with a never-ending series of mishaps and blunders that could almost be described as a comedy of errors: departing businessmen claiming that they have been pushed out of the market; officials racing to wag their finger at those “outside forces” that apparently are trying to tarnish our immaculate human rights record; influential journalists suing less influential journalists and sending them to prison; opposition politicians turning their backs on official calls for dialogue for political reform; columnists writing in support of maintaining the “historic” divisions in the political pie; “strategic” conferences to discuss changes to the elections law that lack strategy but focus on “interests” and “counterinterests”; Jordanians no longer classed as Jordanians despite decades of residency; and a Central Bank that announces deflation on the same page as announcements of the increase in prices of tobacco, alcohol, phone calls, gasoline, air travel, food, electricity, water, school fees, medicine, etc.

And lest I should forget, I must mention the conferences, conferences and more conferences. There is a lot of noise and movement, but very little change.

Parallel to this newsreel of “official” events are the “public” realities: families unable to make ends meet; an increasing number of suicides; rising unemployment; annual salary increases being deflated by the Central Bank’s “deflation” announcement; retailers sitting in their quiet shops watching the world pass by and hoping that someone would walk in and buy something; patients attended to by doctors who don’t care; students going to school to make up national percentages on literacy; more office buildings with empty offices that have no business to conduct; donors running out of donor funds; no parliament; no political parties; no “professional” associations and a not such a free press after all.

There is a state of national depression and a feeling of hopelessness that permeates the air and a general feeling among citizens that officialdom has escaped being contaminated by this disease and is, instead, living in an optimistic land of official denial.

The breakthrough may have come with the announcement yesterday by Prime Minister Samir Rifai that he is in the process of forming a new government with new vision and an impressive new energy - but the worry is the huge list of intentions and missions that are almost unattainable.

In his comments at Columbia University, the prime minister is certainly “talking the talk” when he pledges to make the citizen his government’s foremost concern. More importantly, his assurance that his government will write up a “practical” action plan and commit his government to an exercise in “fiscal discipline” is definitely a step in the right direction.

And despite the premier’s pledge not to become engrossed in “vision statements”, I believe that the concern remains that the government is still working on laying the ground for grand strategies and brain storming sessions rather than immediately implementing the basic steps that can remove the number one concern of the citizen about basic livelihood issues.

At this juncture and this period of the economic crisis, global, regional and national citizens want to know they can work, live in a house, eat their three meals, pay for school and stay warm, or any basic combination of these main elements. And while the campaign to improve the functionality of government and its efficiency is commendable, this really is an activity that complements the “action for the Jordanian citizen” on the bread-and-butter issues - which is much more urgent at this time - and should not be happening instead of or ahead of the more crucial concerns.

The time for talking is really coming to an end. The urgency in addressing the concerns of the Jordanian citizen and alleviating some of the fears the citizen has from facing an uncertain future cannot be underestimated.

I believe the premier understands the urgency and is trying to race in time to meet the demands that the King - in his appointment letter - and his government - in response - have identified. It may be prudent, however, to concentrate on only one or two opportunities and to try to address those immediately, instead of becoming embroiled in the difficult task of resolving everything at once.

It took years to arrive at the state of disorder we face and it will certainly take years to untie all the knots.

NermeenMurad@gmail.com

(From Jordan Times)