The Ethiopian parliament has approved Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s new cabinet of 22 ministers, three of whom are drawn from the opposition.
Accordingly, the new cabinet includes Professor Birhanu Nega of Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice [Ezema], Merdassa Tulu of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and Belelte Molla of the National Movement of Amhara (NaMA).
A major development in the governance structure is the inclusion of twenty state bodies, including key intelligence, security and financial institutions, to become directly accountable to the Prime Minister’s office.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the nominations were decided after taking into consideration the merit and dedication of the individuals involved, as well as diversity including gender and religion.
Abiy said that he expects his new cabinet to fight against poverty, begging and corruption while asserting that a cabinet member’s loyalty “shouldn’t be to ethnicity, but only to federal institutions.”
From the opposition, Berhanu Negahas been appointed as the Minister of Education, Belete Molla as Minister of Innovation and Technology and Kejella Merdassa, as minister of Culture and Sports.
Abiy’s government won June’s election in a landslide, and is expected to face little opposition in parliament after the only two opposition parties that won seats accepted cabinet-level positions.
MG/as/APA