A report issued Dec. 23 by Jordan’s Economic and Social Council (ESC), a governmental advisory body, has stunned Jordanians across the board. Titled “State of the Country,” the 1,500-page document that took one year to complete with the participation of no less than 700 Jordanian experts was seen as an indictment of previous governments covering a period of the past 18 years, until early 2018.

Its most damning conclusion is that governments have failed to execute their strategies for lack of proper planning and funding in addition to poor human resources. It also concluded that attempts at achieving political and economic reforms had stumbled and that key posts were allocated according to a quota system that favors regional and supplementary identities. The report underlined the absence of a merit system in appointments, in addition to lack of accountability.

The report examined key government sectors, in addition to reviewing the performance of the legislature, the judiciary, civil society organizations and the state of human rights and political development, among others.

President of the ESC Mustafa Hamarneh, a former lawmaker with a progressive political agenda, noted in his introduction of the report that the document is the first of its kind and that it aims at giving a full internal audit of government ministries and organizations by reviewing their declared strategies and policies and evaluating their outcome. He added that the diagnostics aim at consolidating the values of justice, citizenship and rule of law in order to improve people’s lives and the quality of services provided to them.