House of Rep downsizes Ministerial Cabinet

Ethiopia’s House of People’s Representatives (HoPR) have approved a draft motion that downsized the number of cabinet members to 20 in a major Government overhaul in the East African country’s recent governance record.

Amid the restructuring of Ethiopia’s cabinet, which includes the merging of some of the ministerial portfolios and introducing new ones, the HoPR, the Ethiopian parliament’s lower house, also approved the appointment of new cabinet members upon the endorsement of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Ahmed, while briefing members of the Ethiopian parliament concerning the restructuring of his government’s executive organs and the eventual appointment of new ministers, stressed that the newly restructured cabinet would help streamline the country’s socio-economic and political plans as well as development ambitions.

Following the unanimous approval of the law by the HoPR, the east African country’s Council of Ministers (CoM) has now 20 members from the previous 28, marking a major government overhaul in the structure of the executive organ’s recent history.

Accordingly, the former Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Industry have been merged into the Ministry of Trade and Industry, while Ministry of Innovation and Technology has been created by merging other related ministries.

Ahmed said the selection of the newly appointed ministers was made after careful analysis and investigation of their previous work experience as well as the working performance of their previous organisations.

He also presented 16 new cabinet members in a bid to match the newly structured ministerial cabinet.

Amid the endorsement of 16 new cabinet members, only four ministers have remained in their previous positions.

Workneh Gebeyehu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amir Aman, Minister of Health, Seleshi Bekele, Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, and Birhanu Tsegaye, Attorney General with the Rank of Minister, are the four cabinet members who have remained in their ministerial positions.

Ahmed, who was unanimously endorsed by the HoPR as Ethiopia’s Prime Minister in April this year, has reshuffled his administration’s cabinet for the second time since he took office.

In April this year, Ahmed reshuffled his cabinet members as well as heads of relevant federal government organisations, majority of who were appointed by the former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in November 2016.

In addition to the new form of the country’s executive organ, the new cabinet also marked a record number of female members, in which half of the 20-member cabinet members are now females.