New faces in, old faces out

Ruling Awami League president and prime minister Sheikh Hasina in a move to start anew has picked 31 new faces as her cabinet colleagues in her third consecutive term, dropping most of the seniors.
Disclosing names of 24 ministers, 19 state ministers and three deputy ministers of the new cabinet, cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam on Sunday said that president Md Abdul Hamid would administer the oath of office to them at 3:30pm today at Bangabhaban for a five-year term. 
All the ministers and state ministers from the AL partners — Rashed Khan Menon of Workers Party of Bangladesh, Hasanul Haq Inu of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal faction, Anwar Hossain of Jatiya Party (JP) and Anisul Islam Mahmud, Md Mujibul Haque and Mashiur Rahman Ranga of Ershad-led Jatiya Party — have been excluded from the new cabinet. 
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has kept to herself the portfolios of cabinet division, public administration ministry, defence ministry, armed forces division, power, energy and mineral resources ministry and women and children affairs ministry, according to the list announced by the cabinet secretary. 
The ministers are AKM Mozammel Huq for liberation war affairs ministry, Obaidul Quader for road transport and bridges ministry, Mohammad Abdur Razzaque for agriculture ministry, Asaduzzman Khan for home ministry, Mohammad Hasan Mahmud for information ministry, Anisul Huq for law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry, AHM Mustafa Kamal for finance ministry, Md Tajul Islam for LGRD and cooperatives ministry, Dipu Moni for education ministry, AK Abdul Momen for foreign ministry, MA Mannan for planning ministry, Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun for industries ministry, Golam Dastagir Gazi for textile and jute ministry, Zahid Maleque for health and family welfare ministry, Sadhan Chandra Majumder for food ministry, Tipu Munshi for commerce ministry, Nuruzzman Ahmed for social welfare ministry, SM Rezaul Karim for housing and public works ministry, Shahab Uddin for environment, forest and climate change ministry, Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing for Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs ministry, Saifuzzman Chowdhury for land ministry, Md Nurul Islam Sujan for railways ministry, Yafesh Osman for science and technology ministry, and Mustafa Zabbar for post, telecommunication and ICT ministry.
The state ministers are Kamal Ahmed Majumder for industries ministry, Imran Ahmed for expatriate welfare and overseas employment ministry, Zahid Ahsan Russell for youth and sports ministry, Nasrul Hamid for power, energy and mineral resources ministry, Md Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru for fisheries and livestock ministry, Monnujan Sufian for labour and employment ministry, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury for shipping ministry, Md Zakir Hossain for primary and mass education ministry, Md Shahriar Alam for foreign ministry, Zunaid Ahmed Palak for information and communication technology division, Farhad Hossain for public administration ministry, Swapan Bhattachaiya for LGRD ministry, Zahid Faruque for water resources ministry, Md Murad Hasan for health and family welfare ministry, Sharif Ahmed for social welfare ministry, KM Khalid for cultural affairs ministry, Md Enamur Rahman for disaster management and relief ministry, Md Mahbub Ali for civil aviation and tourism ministry and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah for religious affairs ministry while deputy ministers are Habibun Nahar for environment, forest and climate change ministry, AKM Enamul Haque Shamim for water resources ministry and Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury for education ministry.
The official gazette for the new cabinet would be published immediately after the oath-taking ceremony, said the cabinet secretary.
He said the incumbent cabinet would dissolve with the publication of the gazette. 
This time the names of new ministers were announced with their portfolios before they were sworn in, officials said. 
At least three of the new cabinet members are technocrats while the rest are elected members of parliament from ruling Awami league in the 11th parliamentary polls marred by widespread flaws and fraudulences. 
The technocrats inducted in the cabinet are former science and technology minister Yafesh Osman, former telecommunications and information technology minister Mustafa Jabbar and AL religious affairs secretary Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. 
Twenty-three senior members of the outgoing cabinet including finance minister AMA Muhith, industries minister Amir Hossain Amu, commerce minister Tofail Ahmed, agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury and health minister Mohammad Nasim have been dropped from the cabinet. 
Ten state ministers including Mirza Azam, Ismat Ara Sadique, Meher Afroze and Tarana Halim and two deputy ministers Abdullah Al Islam Jakob and Arif Khan Joy have also been excluded. 
AL bagged 257 out of 298 seats as elections to the remaining two seats were suspended while its allies got 31 and main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party got only five seats and its ally Gono Forum secured two seats in the polls held on December 30. 
AL’s major ally Jatiya Party, led by former military dictator HM Ershad, securing 22 seats is now willing to be in the opposition in parliament.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net