Reunion of recently departed advisors amid ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ controversy

Staff Correspondent

Amid the “Kitchen Cabinet” controversy that has erupted over the decision-making process of the interim government, the newly-departed advisers were seen together. After leaving office, they met for iftar and dinner at a government residence on Minto Road. The reunion has created a new discussion in the political arena.

‘Kitchen Cabinet’ Complaint

M. Sakhawat Hossain, a former advisor to the interim government, claimed in a television interview that there was an informal “kitchen cabinet” within the advisory council. According to him, a few members trusted by Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus made policy decisions there, but he was not part of that circle.

“The country was in a state of fire at that time. But no one called me or took my advice,” he said.

He believed that he was kept out because of the possibility of dissent on some issues and that all decisions were made from the ‘kitchen cabinet’.

Who was in the kitchen cabinet?

Although the ‘kitchen cabinet’ within Muhammad Yunus’ government has come under renewed discussion, there has been ‘internal discussion’ among media workers about it for a long time.

BD Digest spoke to several journalists covering the Chief Advisor’s Office on this issue.

They said that the recently departed industrial advisor Adilur Rahman Khan Shuvro was at the helm of all decisions in the kitchen cabinet.

Shuvro always included Power and Roads Advisor Fawzul Kabir Khan, Information Advisor Rizwana Chowdhury, and Education Advisor C. R. Abrar in his decision-making.

These decisions of the Kitchen Cabinet were implemented by Home Secretary Nasimul Gani and the Principal Advisor’s Chief Coordinator for SDGs, Lamia Morshed.

And Shafiqul Alam, the press secretary to the chief advisor, used to generate public consensus.

Reunion amidst controversy

In this context, former advisor on power, energy and mineral resources Fawzul Kabir Khan organized an iftar and dinner at the government residence on Minto Road. Muhammad Yunus and other recently departed advisors were present at the event.

The picture shows the former advisors enjoying separate seating arrangements in the green courtyard, cake cutting and chatting. Present were M Sakhawat Hossain, Saleh Uddin Ahmed, CR Abrar, Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, Farida Akhtar, Touhid Hossain, Sharmin Murshid, Sheikh Bashir Uddin, Asif Nazrul, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Supradeep Chakma, Adilur Rahman Khan Shuvro, Bidhan Chandra Roy Poddar and others. The recently outgoing Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Ahsan H Mansur, was also invited.

When former press secretary Shafiqul Alam shared the pictures on social media, various comments surfaced. Some wrote, “Shafiq Bhai is still the press secretary.” Others questioned why the young members of the advisory council were absent.

After serving for one and a half years, the advisors departed on February 17 as a new government took office through elections. In the meantime, questions have been raised about the internal relations, decision-making structure, and transparency of the advisory council as allegations of a “kitchen cabinet” surfaced.

Sakhawat Hossain’s comments have given a new dimension to the question of how institutionalized the decision-making process within the advisory council was, and how much it relied on informal influence.