Khaberni - Constructive criticism and feedback from service recipients, in addition to popular oversight, particularly from the press, media, and specialized civil society institutions, are considered crucial factors influencing the development of institutional performance. These elements are capable of elevating the level of service provided, which aligns perfectly with the royal vision for administrative modernization and development. For this positive impact to occur, it must specifically focus on public policies, decisions related to public services, and the professionalism of job performance and its output, provided the criticism is based on methodological foundations, scientific rules, and accumulated experiential knowledge.
However, if the criticism is random, without any cognitive and methodological foundations, unspecific, descriptive, and vague, not focused on any specific topics, and directed at undermining the roles of national institutions or the personas running them rather than their job performance, then it is merely destructive and negative criticism, with hidden motives other than what’s declared.
On the other hand, the worst cases of negative criticism are those intended for the sake of criticism itself, driven by vengeful motives aimed at destroying the bridges of trust between these institutions and their audience. It is truly disheartening when the public adopts these fictitious criticisms as if they were unquestionable truths, leading to suspicion and doubt prevailing over trust and certainty, eventually costing citizens and service recipients heavily in the end.
A few years ago, the Jordanian agricultural sector was targeted, accused without any evidence or proof, with varying accusations from irrigating crops with contaminated water, using internationally banned fertilizers, to allegations that the certificates of origin for Jordanian agricultural exports were forged to circumvent the laws of boycotting countries, resulting in most exports being halted and the agricultural sector’s production being severely affected for many consecutive years, with citizens ultimately bearing the costs.
This story repeats itself from time to time, appearing as hostile, destructive campaigns systematically targeting various sectors: educational, health, tourism, and then the industrial and service institutions. Nowadays, these campaigns target sovereign and security institutions, as if their ultimate goal is to leave us, God forbid, without any trust in our country and its future. Without true awareness and understanding of the consequences of these campaigns, we are on the verge of being fuel and kindling for them, instead of opposing and standing against them, which is not what any sincere Jordanian or conscious individual would wish for.
Reflecting upon the words of Allah Almighty: "And most of them follow nothing but conjecture. Certainly, conjecture can be of no avail against the truth. Indeed, Allah is aware of what they do." And in the same context, an Arab proverb says: "Perhaps a word you tell your companion, let me be"; we seek the truth and protect our tongues and our pens from delving into things we do not know, echoing what our noble Messenger ﷺ said: "Beware of conjecture, for conjecture is the most deceitful of speech."
