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Wednesday, March 23, 2016, Chaitra 9, 1422 BS, Jamadius Sani 13, 1437 Hijri

Suu Kyi set to steer cabinet from within
She may get four ministries? president's office, foreign affairs, energy and education
Published :Wednesday, 23 March, 2016,  Time : 12:00 AM  View Count : 14

She may get four ministries? president's office, foreign affairs, energy and educationNAYPYIDAW, Mar 22 : Myanmar's president-elect nominated Aung San Suu Kyi to join the incoming cabinet on Tuesday, giving the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader a formal role in the government that the constitution bars her from leading.
Suu Kyi guided the NLD to a historic landslide election win in November, but cannot assume the presidency under the charter drafted by the former junta because her two sons are British citizens, as was her late husband.
She has pledged to circumvent the ban by running the country through a proxy president, and last week the parliament nominated Suu Kyi's confidant, Htin Kyaw, for the top job.
Until the cabinet nominations were read out to parliament by the speaker on Tuesday, it had been unclear whether Suu Kyi would join the executive or would chose to guide the government from outside as the leader of the ruling party.
The constitution bars serving ministers from political party activities or sitting in parliament as lawmakers.
"It doesn't matter how many ministries she takes, as she will run the whole government anyway," said Win Htein, a senior NLD politician close to Suu Kyi.
The 18-member cabinet list submitted by President-elect Htin Kyaw to parliament did not specify the portfolios each minister would hold.
But a separate, unofficial list obtained by Reuters from sources in parliament showed Nobel peace prize laureate Suu Kyi's name next to four ministries: minister of the president's office, foreign affairs, electric power and energy, and education.
It was unclear whether Suu Kyi would run all four departments when the new government takes office next month.     ?REUTERS

Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury