jordan pulse -

Highlights:
Lived through "difficult, high-pressure" days over the casino file; talk of dissolving parliament is premature
The education minister has put up with me more than most; the local administration minister appointed me only one person
Upset over Khaled Al-Bakkar's exit from government — something happened there we don't know about
What the PM carried out was "a promotion, not a reshuffle," and some ministers still need to go
Corruption here is uneven, "like the stock exchange" — a minister losing his nerve "doesn't mean much"
This government is a "zero" on investment, "good" on services, and has "worn us out" on legislation
Most of Al-Hasa has become abandoned, and Al-Dhneibat hasn't brought in a single new project
I support Walid Al-Kurdi's return to Phosphate — he's still steering things from a distance
I paid a personal price for voting Al-Kurdi out — fought over my kids' livelihood, and lost my seat
AMMAN — MP Mohammad Al-Mara'ieh said the draft Local Administration Law has been "delayed," and that the government's decision to dissolve the last council was rushed, arguing the government's justification wasn't convincing since the committees hadn't actually made a difference.
On the Real Estate Ownership Law, Al-Mara'ieh told the Rum podcast he supports compensating citizens, noting a road is different from a rail line: a road raises property values when it runs through a town's urban plan, while a railway line mainly serves large projects, investors or factories. He said the future vision is a passenger rail network, calling the law "a double-edged sword." He explained that including rail lines under the legal definition of "road" was meant to secure insurance for goods and passengers, asking whether cargo insurance would apply the way it does in shipping — telling Rum that insurance companies are the ones who stand to lose out. He said he personally didn't vote for the law, but worked to serve the area the southern Badia rail line will pass through, pushing the estimated land price up roughly fourfold.
On MPs generally, Al-Mara'ieh said lawmakers face heavy public pressure over service delivery, while the government simultaneously puts them at odds with the street over certain laws — pressure that sometimes pushes some MPs to speak against their own convictions. He said the bigger strain is the government's inability to meet MPs' service-related demands, leaving lawmakers "caught between a rock and a hard place," stressing that MPs aren't chasing populism but working in the national interest.
On abolishing elected governorate councils, he said he opposes the idea, favoring instead a mixed system split between appointed and elected members — noting the current model succeeded in the Badia and was fair to all sides, while pointing out that appointed members tend to come from the city center, which could affect service delivery elsewhere.
Asked about descriptions of the current parliament as the weakest yet, Al-Mara'ieh said it's MPs themselves who determine whether a parliament is strong or weak, adding that it's a lawmaker's electoral base that holds them accountable.
On social media criticism, he said no one truly welcomes criticism, noting some critics simply "love to criticize," others are driven by election grudges, while some offer constructive criticism tied to a specific position he's taken. He said the vast majority of his own base is satisfied with his performance, crediting the clarity of his positions and his presence among them, noting the Badia makes up more than a third of the Kingdom and faces many hardships — lacking basic necessities of life, with some villages without internet, water or electricity, particularly homes built on state land considered "encroachment land." He credited cooperation from the ministers of state for political and parliamentary affairs, finance, agriculture, and the ministries of education, labor, youth and local administration on Badia issues.
Al-Mara'ieh told Rum he takes a "middle-ground" approach with the government, especially since it delivers services he requests for his constituents. On the Rural and Badia Affairs Committee, he said he ran for its chairmanship and won 8 votes, but the parliament speaker and a number of MPs asked him to step aside in favor of the Mubadara ("Initiative") bloc, noting that MP Baker Al-Haysa tried hard to run the committee but wasn't able to manage it.
He said the 16th parliament saw sharp political clashes between MPs and the government, while the current parliament is calmer by comparison.
On phosphate: He said he paid a personal price for his stance, "even fighting over my own kids' livelihood," and lost his re-election bid by a 27-vote margin. He said he doesn't regret his position, saying he satisfied his own conscience as a member of the phosphate investigation committee at the time — though he acknowledged the committee's decision back then was rushed: "Had we kept Walid Al-Kurdi in place, things would look different." He said the goal of removing Al-Kurdi was to improve the situation, but the opposite happened — staff were driven out and new management came in acting like saviors when they weren't.
He said only God truly knows what's ahead, but affirmed he supports Al-Kurdi's return to Phosphate, saying Al-Kurdi still maintains ties with current management and is "steering the company from a distance," citing frequent staff travel to the UK, and noting Al-Kurdi has been back in the picture since 2017 due to his strong relationship with Indian partners.
He said the phosphate company has paid the price for that change — "they made it look like a loss." He said Amer Al-Majali, who took over immediately after Al-Kurdi's departure, "was handed responsibilities bigger than the company could bear," pointing to the roughly 500 million tons of gypsum at Aqaba, worth an estimated JD50 billion, which the government wanted removed — something he described as effectively a penalty, on top of the company missing out on a concession, which he said pushed Al-Majali to resign during his second term.
He also flagged a health-insurance problem at the phosphate company: the firm posts profits in the billions, yet health insurance costs no more than JD10 million — and still, he said, they don't want it resolved. He said the private sector effectively runs the phosphate company now, calling it "hollowed out," and said the Al-Hasa mine is closed for lack of phosphate "according to their own account," while the company wants to shut the area down altogether. He said the current phosphate chief "hasn't brought in a single project," instead cutting staff and management and freezing certain authorities, noting the buyer itself hasn't changed since Al-Kurdi's time.
Al-Mara'ieh thanked King Abdullah, via Rum, for his visit to Ma'an governorate, noting the King directed the government to improve infrastructure for development projects that benefit citizens and attract investment that would ease unemployment and jobs. He pointed to the planned dry port project on a 5,000-dunum site within the industrial city, with capital exceeding JD700 million, which he said would help jobs and revive the area, voicing optimism the government will heed the King's signals and act on its priorities going forward.
On the government's performance: Asked whether changing the government would even help, Al-Mara'ieh said: "Even if we change the government, is whoever comes next capable of change?" He credited PM Jaafar Hassan with thinking outside the box — citing measures like supporting the treasury through selling special vehicle plates, keeping fuel prices stable, and cutting the government's cut of fuel profits. He said the government remains "very weak" on investment, having failed to attract or retain investors, pointing to what happened in Zarqa's Al-Hurra area as an example.
On parliament's oversight role, he said parliamentary questions remain "stacked up," saying he still hasn't received answers to his own questions. He said the Bureau (the parliament's standing committee) hasn't kept to the internal bylaws requiring an oversight session after every two legislative sessions, saying parliament's legislative role has been "excellent" but he isn't satisfied with its oversight role.
Asked about corruption, he described it as "uneven, like the stock exchange" — saying he has suspicions about certain Ministry of Water tenders but lacks proof, recalling the minister's own comments on the ministry's debt. He said part of the cost of the planned national water carrier project will fall on government, part on consumer bills, but argued the subsidized rate for household use needs to be properly assessed, also flagging a groundwater-well problem in the southern Badia that the finance minister has promised to address.
On unemployment, which he called the file that worries him most, Al-Mara'ieh said he's put forward ideas that are being worked on, stressing the need to steer a new generation away from university tracks and toward vocational training — noting the Vocational Training Corporation can't build capable generations without adequate funding, and calling on major companies to support the institution to ease the burden on citizens. He said he first raised this project with the King back in 2011, and it moved forward until parliament was dissolved, after which it was handled differently and didn't succeed.
On Labor Minister Khaled Al-Bakkar's exit from government, Al-Mara'ieh said: "There's something we don't know — it's about more than performance," adding that the government's silence following Al-Bakkar's remarks raises questions.
On the cabinet reshuffle, he said: "This was a promotion, not a reshuffle," suggesting it may signal a coming reshuffle that will effectively shield the ministers who were just promoted. He said a cabinet reshuffle has become necessary, naming the minister of state for investment affairs, the planning minister, and the minister of state for foreign affairs as ministers he believes should be replaced.
Asked who he considers the best prime minister in his view, he named Awn Al-Khasawneh — though he didn't get enough time in office — followed by Jaafar Hassan, then Abdullah Ensour.
On the casino file, Al-Mara'ieh revealed he went through "difficult" and high-pressure days, confirming he submitted his resignation over it, though it wasn't accepted. He said the decision to open the casino, and then reverse it, was a mistake — leading the investor to sue Jordan; after negotiations, the investor's losses were assessed at roughly $1 million, and he was granted 127 dunums in the Sweimeh area in compensation. He said he was never actually given the choice to approve or reject the casino license, but that the file cost Jordan a case valued at JD50 billion, stressing that the initial proposal, the reversal, and the litigation were all handled wrongly.
On dissolving parliament, he asked: "What was the point of dissolving it?" — noting dissolution is the King's prerogative, and that what matters for MPs today is what they deliver for the country and its citizens. He said talk of early elections is premature, since amendments to the elections law are still pending under the outputs of the political modernization system and the Royal Committee. He noted the current parliament is the first since political modernization, with a high proportion of party-affiliated members — including the largest bloc from the National Charter Party — along with the strongest youth and women's representation yet, suggesting it may well complete its full constitutional term. He said political parties have brought more discipline to parliamentary work and reined in individual freelancing, though a party may still allow an MP to vote independently on certain items. He confirmed he voted confidence in the government, noting he ran an informal poll on his personal Facebook page beforehand, which showed strong majority support for doing so.
Closing out, Al-Mara'ieh urged the government to stay out of citizens' pockets and away from anything that adds to their burdens, calling for genuinely out-of-the-box thinking, and urged the prime minister to build a strong investment team capable of attracting investment given current conditions. His message to fellow MPs: to stand "as one man." To his constituents: "I haven't fallen short on anything, and I'm giving more than I have to give." To the Jordanian people: "I will never stand anywhere but on the side of the homeland and its citizens" — stressing that what matters most to him is that citizens live a dignified life, and that the country's security and stability are preserved.
Image: https://www.rumonline.net/image.php?token=e2e06c8ac23aa97b5af0be7acfbb074a&size=xxlarge