Stage set for inauguration of Hasina’s new cabinet

The new cabinet, which includes a flurry of fresh faces, will take their oaths of office at 3:30 pm on Monday

The members of the Awami League government’s new cabinet have already been announced and preparations have begun in earnest for the inauguration ceremony at the Bangabhaban.

The Awami League will form the government for the third consecutive term after the members of its new cabinet are sworn in.  Awami League President Sheikh Hasina is also set to create history by serving as prime minister of Bangladesh for an unprecedented fourth term.

President Abdul Hamid will administer the oaths of office to the new cabinet members at the presidential palace’s Darbar Hall at 3:30pm. The prime minister will be the first to take an oath, followed by the ministers, ministers of state and finally the deputy ministers.

The oath-taking ceremony will be moderated by Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam, who on Sunday, announced the names and offices of the 47 members of the new cabinet at a media briefing.

The announcement came as a surprise as it is customary for the list of ministers to be disclosed after they have been sworn in.

The new cabinet headed by Hasina will include 25 ministers, 19 ministers of state and three deputy ministers. The previous cabinet had 48 members.

After the astonishing victory for the Awami League in the 11th parliamentary election, Hasina has formed her new cabinet for the next five years by picking many new faces to lead the administration.

Hasina’s new administration has dropped 36 members from the previous cabinet. Thirty-one members of the new cabinet are first-timers.

Hasina, who had included representatives from the Awami League’s allied parties in the previous cabinets, has not picked any of them in her new cabinet.

Instead, the new cabinet exclusively consists of members of the Awami League.

The swearing-in of the new cabinet members will mark the end of the previous administration, which was formed on Jan 12, 2014.

Government advisers who held the rank of minister or state minister will be relieved of their duties before the new cabinet is sworn in. The prime minister will later appoint new advisers.

“All the preparations for the oath-taking ceremony are well under way. The new members of the cabinet will take their oaths of office in due time,” said Joynal Abedin, the press secretary to the president.