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Government Reform in the Palestinian Authority

(Al Sabil- Jordan/MEMRI) Mu'awiya Al-Masri - Government reform in the PA means that the former labor minister was appointed agriculture minister; the transportation minister was appointed youth and sports minister; the trade and economics minister received the Industry Ministry portfolio; and the tourism minister was appointed transport minister. This government, like the previous government, does not have my confidence because there is not a single bureau that acts like an institution. No minister can appoint a driver or a delivery boy in his ministry without the president's consent. The health minister cannot appoint a doctor unless he gets a financial guarantee signed by the president. The education minister cannot appoint a teacher unless he first obtains a financial guarantee for the appointment, signed by the president. There is only one institution, and that is the institution of the presidency, which has no law or order and is based on bribing top officials. We don't notice any change because, in effect, no ministry does anything. Even if a minister decides something, anyone with access to the president can extract from him a decision canceling the minister's decision - sometimes that very day. The treasury minister cannot control all the financial resources because since the inception of the Legislative Council there are considerable revenues that are not included in the budget, such as revenues from sales of natural gas, cigarettes, milk, and cement. The gas revenues alone come to $500 million annually, and this does not go into the PA's general budget.
2002-08-03 00:00:00
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