State Minister Keramat says his portfolio is education

Kazi Keramat Ali, who took oath as a state minister, says his portfolio will be the education ministry.

The Rajbari-1 MP is one of the newest members of the cabinet, who were sworn in by President Md Abdul Hamid on Tuesday.

As Keramat was leaving the Bangabhaban after the oath-taking ceremony, reporters waiting outside asked him about his portfolio.

“The education ministry,” he replied.

Replying to a question on how he would address the problems of the ministry, now under criticism for leaks of public exam questions, Keramat said: “I will try my best to fill the gaps.”

Nurul Islam Nahid, who is now the education minister, had been in the same position during the previous Awami League term between 2009 and 2014.

Keramat, a four-time MP from Rajbari-1, was born in 1954 to the Kazi Family, an influential name in Rajbari Awami League. His father Kazi Hedayet Hossain was a member of the provincial assembly of the then East Pakistan.

In 1991, Keramat became the general secretary of the Awami League’s Rajbari district unit. The next year, he was elected lawmaker in bypolls. He has been elected an MP from the Rajbari-1 constituency for three more times.

On Tuesday, Narayon Chandra Chanda, who had been the state minister for fisheries and livestock, MP AKM Shajahan Kamal and IT entrepreneur Mustafa Jabbar also took oath as ministers.

The official decision on portfolios will come on Wednesday, but speculations are rife that Chanda will remain in the fisheries and livestock ministry, Shajahan Kamal will be assigned to the social welfare ministry and Mustafa Jabbar as telecom and IT minister.