Next cabinet may see 31 new faces, drop 36 old ones

A 47-member cabinet, led by prime minister Sheikh Hasina, is set to be sworn in on Monday, following the 30 December parliamentary elections won by the Awami League.

The new cabinet is likely to include 31 new faces, mostly first ministers, and drop as many as 36 members of the cabinet of the outgoing administration.

In the new cabinet, there will be 24 ministers, 19 state ministers and three deputy ministers, cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told newsmen on Sunday.

The cabinet will take oath at Bangabhaban, the official residence of the president, at 3:30pm. President Abdul Hamid will administer oath taking ceremony.

AL president Sheikh Hasina will be sworn in as prime minister for fourth term.

Of the 31 ministers to be inducted into the cabinet, three would be technocrat ministers. The official gazette of the cabinet will be published immediately after oath-taking ceremony.

The cabinet secretary said the outgoing cabinet will be abolished after the publication of the gazette.

A source in the government has told Prothom Alo that 24 new ministers would take oath. The likely ministers and their possible portfolio are: AKM Mozammel Haque, (liberation war affairs), Obaidul Quader (road transport and bridges) Abdur Razzaque (agriculture), Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal (home affairs), Hasan Mahmud (information), Anisul Huq (law, justice and parliamentary affairs), AHM Mustafa Kamal (finance), Tajul Islam (local government), Dipu Moni (education), AK Abdul Momen (foreign affairs), MA Mannan (planning), Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun (industries), Golam Dastagir Gazi (jute and textile), Zahid Malek (health), Sadhan Chandra Mazumdar (food), Tipu Munshi (commerce), Nuruzzaman Ahmed (social welfare), SM Rezaul Karim (public works), Md Shahab Uddin (forest and environment), Bir Bahadur (CHT affairs), Saifuzzaman Chowdhury (land), Nurul Islam Sujan (railway), Yeafes Osman-technocrat (science and technology) and Mostafa Zabbar-technocrat (post, telecommunication and information technology).

A total of 19 state ministers, who will take oath, are named as Kamal Ahmed Majumdar (industries), Imran Ahmed (expatriates' welfare), Zahid Ahsan Russell (youth and sports), Shahriar Alam (foreign affairs), Zakir Hossain (primary education), Nasrul Hamid (power and energy), Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru (fisheries and livestock), Monnujan Sufian (labour), Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury (shipping), Zunaed Ahmed Palak (information and communication technology), Farhad Hossain (public administration), Shwapan Bhattachariya (local government), Zahid Faruq (water resources), Md Murad Hasan (health), Sharif Ahmed (social welfare), KM Khalid (culture), Enamur Rahman (disaster management and relief), Mahbub Ali (civil aviation), Sheikh Md Abdullah-technocrat (religion).

Three deputy ministers are: Habibun Nahar (environment), AKM Enamul Haque Shamim (water resources) and Mahibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel (education).

The 25 ministers, who are likely to be dropped, are finance minister AMA Muhith, industries minister Amir Hossain Amu, commerce minister Tofail Ahmed, agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury, health minister Mohammad Nasim, LGED minister Khondokar Mosharraf Hossain, expatriate welfare minister Nurul Islam, social welfare minister Rashed Khan Menon, housing and public works minister Mosharraf Hossain, textile and jute minister Emaz Uddin Pramanik, information minister Hasanul Huq Inu, environment minister Anisul Islam Mahmud, water resources minister Anwar Hossain Manju, education minister Nurul Islam Nahid, shipping minister Shajahan Khan, disaster management minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, foreign affairs minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, railways minister Mazibul Hoque, primary and mass education minister Mostafizur Rahman, cultural affairs minister Asaduzzaman Noor, land minister Shamsur Rahman Sherif, food minister Qamrul Islam, fisheries and livestock minister Narayon Chandra Chanda, civil aviation and tourism minister AKM Shahjahan Kamal and religious affairs minister Matiur Rahman.

Nine state ministers who may be dropped are Mujibul Haque Chunnu (labour and employment), Mirza Azam (textile and jute ministry), Biren Sikder (youth and sports ministry), Ismat Ara Sadique (public administration ministry), Meher Afroze (women and children affairs ministry), Tarana Halim (information ministry), Muhammad Nazrul Islam (water resources ministry), Mashiur Rahman Ranga (rural development and co-operatives ministry) and Kazi Keramat Ali (technical and madrasha education ministry).

Two deputy ministers of the previous cabinet who may not be picked again are Abdullah Al Islam Jakob (environment) and Arif Khan Joy (youth and sports)/

No one from the Awami League’s alliance partners -- JSD, Workers Party and Jatiya Party (Manju) -- is likely to be inducted into the cabinet this time.

General Ershad's Jatiya Party, an AL ally, which has representation in the outgoing cabinet, has already decided to emerge as official opposition party in parliament.

The AL-led grand won 288 out of 300 parliamentary seats while the opposition coalition of Jatiya Oikya Jote got only seven seats in the elections plagued by allegations of vote rigging and violence.

Source: Prothom Alo