KING ABRUPTLY ENDS DRIVE FOR DECENTRALIZATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 001117 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2019 TAGS: PGOV KDEM JO SUBJECT: KING ABRUPTLY ENDS DRIVE FOR DECENTRALIZATION REF: A. AMMAN 886 ¶B. 08 AMMAN 3353 Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: King Abdullah's long-standing drive for decentralization of government services came to an abrupt halt on May 3, when he announced that the plan to create three new regional authorities would be dropped in favor of a vague plan to empower existing provincial governors. Little was offered by way of explanation, although in private the King claimed that Islamist rumor-mongering gave ammunition to the plan's critics. Some are now wondering if the King's about-face on decentralization is a sign that the mandate of Prime Minister Dahabi's government may be starting to grow thin. End Summary. A Man, A Plan -------------- ¶2. (C) King Abdullah has been calling for decentralization since 2004, when a royal commission recommended the formation of three regional authorities to create greater efficiency and facilitate local input in the implementation of government services. Since then, the plan has been buried deep in the priority list of successive governments, who saw it as difficult to implement and too controversial politically. (Note: The plan would have empowered Jordanians of Palestinian origin through changes in the electoral system (Refs A and B). End Note.) In October 2008, the King re-tasked the government with making decentralization happen, prompting a flurry of official statements and taskings to various ministries. At the same time, however, the details of decentralization remained hazy for politicians and the general public alike. Media criticism of the plan mounted, and conspiracy theories that decentralization was the first step in the eventual absorption of the Palestinian territories began to spread. Decentralization is Dead -------------- ¶3. (C) In a statement to the semi-official Petra news service on May 3, King Abdullah essentially disowned the plan to create three regional authorities. While acknowledging that the principle of local control should continue to guide government policy, the King declared that decentralization would be "implemented at the governorate level" rather than via the 2004 plan. Writing in opposition daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm the following day, editor Fahed Al-Kitan called the statement "a clear signal from His Majesty to shelve the 
regions plan." Kitan, who led the charge against decentralization in the media, noted "wide satisfaction (from) political and media elites" with the King's decision. ¶4. (C) The King's statement failed to offer a reason for his change of course. During a May 7 dinner with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the King hinted that decentralization was a victim of Islamist-led conspiracy theories which held that the three regional authorities would soon be joined by a fourth -- the Palestinian territories. (Note: While patently untrue, the rumor raised the hackles of conservative East Bankers who fear the so-called "Jordan option" which envisions the confederation of a rump Palestinian state with Jordan. The rumor also inflamed the opinion of Palestinians by suggesting that Jordan was set to deprive them of a viable and independent state. End Note.) ¶5. (C) Contacts in the central government have always been highly critical of the decentralization plan and are now welcoming its abandonment. Their objections were partly based on practical considerations. Many pointed out that decentralization would have limited benefits in a country the size of Indiana and noted the added cost of creating a new level of bureaucracy. Local authorities, on the other hand, welcomed decentralization. While they had some qualms about the structures the plan would produce, on the whole they were looking forward to a new funding stream to help supplement their budgets for local services. Impact on the Dahabi Government -------------- ¶6. (C) Many of our contacts see the withdrawal of the decentralization plan as a strike against the Dahabi government. PM Dahabi is known to oppose decentralization -- a stance which required the King to publicly shame him into taking action on the plan earlier this year (Ref A). Yasar Qatarneh, a fellow at the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy, told poloff the King's statement declaring decentralization dead was a public acknowledgment that the Dahabi government is no longer able (or willing) to carry out royal policy directives. Qatarneh and other contacts, many of whom predict that the Dahabi government will not last through the end of 2009, see the King's statement as the first part of a royal campaign to dismiss the Dahabi government. Comment: Our contacts are likely overstating the centrality of decentralization in the hierarchy of the King's priorities. While the King may be displeased that the plan failed to advance, there are no indications that he currently has no intention of dismissing the government as a result. End Comment. Long Live Decentralization! -------------- ¶7. (C) The King's statement on decentralization was terse, leaving the door open for future action but offering few details on next steps. This has left government officials who were knee-deep in preparations for the legal and administrative infrastructure of decentralization scratching their heads. While the King definitively ended talk of regional authorities, he called for decentralization through the existing structures of the governorates. (Note: Jordan's governors are Interior Ministry appointees who mostly deal with security matters. It is unclear what the King meant by implementing decentralization through them. End Note.) Zarqa MP Reem Qassem called the King's statement "careless." She pointed out that most ministries already have provincial offices which perform poorly and provide little in the way of local input -- proof in her mind that decentralization at the provincial level has already been tried. Beecroft