Myanmar’s president-elect Htin Kyaw on Thursday submitted a proposal to parliament to reduce the number of government ministries to 21 from 36 and create a new ethnic affairs ministry in keeping with Aung San Suu Kyi’s pledge to make government leaner and more inclusive.
The only new ministry will be responsible for ethnic affairs and was created to realize Aung San Suu Kyi’s plan for peace and national reconciliation by bringing together diverse ethnic minority groups and ending the fighting between some of the armed ethnic groups and the government army.
The NLD, which will take over the government on April 1, will nominate 18 ministers, while military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, will nominate the remaining three for the ministries of defense, home affairs and border affairs in accordance with Myanmar’s constitution, which was written in 2008 when a military junta governed the country.
The names of the ministers will be announced after March 20, said NLD spokesman Zaw Myint Maung.