A petition, signed by at least 40 of Jordan’s Lower House deputies, was recently presented to House Speaker Abdul Hadi Majali, protesting what they called “unjust” appointments in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZ), Deputy Ziyad Shweikh said.
Shweikh (Aqaba Governorate), who initiated the motion, said he found the recent appointments in the zone were “unjust” because the employees' assigned salaries “were very high” and that favoritism played heavily in their being hired.
“The salaries they will take are high compared to ordinary people,” he alleged. “It is clear that those employees are sons of officials and former ministers,” Shweikh charged.
However, ASEZ Board of Commissioners Chairman Mohammad Kalaldeh told the Jordan Times that the board adopted a “very transparent and systematic recruitment process. The jobs were filled by employees of the defunct Aqaba Region Authority and the Free Zone Corporation as is stipulated by the ASEZ law.”
He said the applicants' CVs were screened by a special company and when they were submitted for review to the board of commissioners, the names of the candidates selected by the firm did not appear on the CVs “just to avoid such allegations. “We want to set an example of governance for the whole country and we were extremely careful in that [matter],” Kalaldeh said.
Shweikh also alleged that the employees will earn salaries ranging from 1,200 ($1,688) Jordanian dinars to JD 1,700 ($2,391). “This is very high,” the deputy said adding that the number of employees recruited at the ASEZ is estimated at 250.
The ASEZ board chairman countered that “only eight employees” will take such salaries and those are heads of departments. He said the ASEZ had to offer such salaries to attract applicants with high qualifications needed for “a high-profile project.” He added that all the employees, whom he estimated at numbering 170, were given a one-year contract and will undergo “a trial” period of three months in which to prove their capabilities, and those who fail to perform to standard will be let go.
According to Shweikh, the petition also charged that Aqaba residents were “highly excluded” from the appointments. “This project is very vital to Jordan, and we are being optimistic about it. There should not be shortcoming[s] in it from the beginning. We hope the prime minister will fix this,” the deputy said.
Kalaldeh responded to the charge, saying that at least 20 percent of the 150 persons appointed in the ASEZ customs department were Aqaba residents. He also added that the commission has established a quasi recruitment office where the commission is collecting and working on the CVs of young university graduates from Aqaba to create a database that would eventually put investors in contact with job candidates, in order to match the investors' requirements with the qualifications of the young job seekers.
“We are trying to help create jobs for the residents of Aqaba through the private sector, and looking to donors to provide training skills programs to assist young Aqaba men and women in entering the job market. We have had several meetings with these young professionals and are working closely with them so that they benefit clearly for this initiative,” Kalaldeh said.
Shweikh also said that “the government could have seconded [more] experienced employees from other institutions like the Ministry of Public Works or the Greater Amman Municipality... The ASEZ appointed people who have little experience that could affect the work in such a vital project,” he said.
Again Kalaldeh countered that the employees were “extremely experienced” and have undergone special training and passed efficiency tests. “Our minimum prerequisite was that all be university graduates,” he said.
Shweikh said the signatories to the petition also charged that the ASEZ commission rented a building to house the ASEZ board of commissioners at a cost of JD 100,000 per year. “They could [easily] use the building of the Aqaba Region Authority which can be renovated and would allow for additional floors,” he noted. The board chairman confirmed that the building was rented at JD 100,000 but added that the building space was 12,300 square meters.
“We absorbed three organizations and we had to rent a building that would house all the employees. We were under pressure to launch the ASEZ by the start of this year and we wanted to avoid building a new building,” he said. — ( Jordan Times )
By Oula Al Farawati
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
