The monarch made the remarks during a rare meeting with personnel from the country’s three branches of government — the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.
“When I talk about reform, this means that I want speedy and real reform. Barring that, the situation will remain as it was in the past when those who were assigned the responsibility wasted many opportunities because of their hesitation and fear of change,” King Abdallah said.
He warned officials against hiding behind him and said that he would not accept any more excuses often cited by ministers such as “I have received orders from above, because there is nothing called from above.”
The monarch summoned the meeting with the three branches of the government against the backdrop of a series of demonstrations that swept the country over the past six weeks and found inspiration from the Tunisian and Egyptian uprising.
Two weeks ago, Abdallah sacked the government of former Prime Minister Samir Rifai and replaced it with a new cabinet led by Marouf Bakhit, an ex-premier.
Participants in the demonstrations, the last of which were on Friday, voiced loyalty for the country’s Hashemite regime, but said they wanted radical reforms both in the political and economic spheres as well in the trial of those who are corrupt.
The king said Sunday that he had directed the new government to conduct “comprehensive and transparent dialogue” with all components of the political spectrum.
“This dialogue should cover all laws governing the political process, foremost the election law which should encourage the collective political work, enable Jordanians to take part in deciding their future and end up with governments formed on the basis of party programs,” he added.
The monarch also said that he had issued orders to the Anti-Corruption Department to speed up activity so as to conduct investigations to verify all claims of corruption reported by citizens.
