Hasina fills her new cabinet of 47 with 27 new faces

Twenty-seven of the 47 named for the new cabinet Sunday are first-timers.

The prime minister also brought back four from her cabinet formed in 2009.

Md Tajul Islam MP from Cumilla-9 is entering the cabinet as the local government, rural development, and cooperatives minister. He was serving as chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on power, energy and mineral resources ministry.

AK Abdul Momen MP from Sylhet-1 will be heading the foreign ministry. Momen, brother of outgoing Finance Minister AMA Muhith, had served as Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the UN.

Tipu Munshi is taking charge of the commerce ministry. The MP from Rangpur-4 is a businessman. The former BGMEA president had worked as chairman of a parliamentary committee earlier.

Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun is going to helm the industries minister. The Narsinghdi-4 MP was a top leader of the Awami League’s youth front Bangladesh Awami Jubo League.

Golam Dastagir Gazi MP from Narayanganj-1 is getting the charge of textile and jute ministry. The decorated freedom fighter owns the Gazi Group which also has a TV station besides other concerns.

The food ministry is going to Sadhan Chandra Majumder, who has been elected MP from Naogaon-1 several times.

Supreme Court lawyer SM Rezaul Karim has gotten the housing and public works ministry. The Pirojpur-1 MP is law affairs secretary to the ruling party. He was active in elections to and programmes of different lawyers’ fora.

Moulvibazar Awami League leader Md Shahab Uddin is environment, forests and climate change minister of the new government.

Nurul Islam Shujon MP from Panchagarh, a former Bangladesh Chhatra League leader, is becoming the railways minister.

Out of the 19 state ministers, 15 are newcomers.

They are Kamal Ahmed Majmuder (industries), Imran Ahmad (expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment), Zahid Ahsan Russell (youth and sports), Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru (fisheries and livestock), Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury (shipping), Zakir Hossain (primary and mass education), Farhad Hossain (public administration), Swapan Bhattacharya (LGRD), Zahid Faruk (water resources), Murad Hasan (health and family planning), Sharif Ahmed (social welfare), KM Khalid (cultural affairs), Md Enamur Rahman (disaster management and relief), Md Mahbub Ali (civil aviation and tourism), and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah (religious affairs).

Hasina has brought back Monnujan Sufian to the labour ministry as state minister.

The three new deputy ministers are also first-timers. They are Habibun Nahar (environment, forests and climate change), Md AKM Enamul Haque Shamim (water resources), and Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury Nowfel (education).