When AKM Shajahan Kamal was made the civil aviation minister in January this year, he had vowed to turn Biman Bangladesh Airlines into a profitable outfit.
But a little over in three months, he publicly expressed his disappointment over the national flag carrier, saying the management has kept him out from affairs, pointing to the re-appointment of the top official.
On Apr 17, Biman’s board cleared the appointment of AM Mosaddique Ahmed as the managing director and chief executive officer for another year.
Ahmed’s term expires on May 30 and he has been re-appointed for a year, effective from Jun 1.



A visibly agitated Kamal said the next day that his ministerial position did not apply for Biman, but for the private airlines.
“I am the civil aviation minister, but do I have any responsibilities? Biman’s managing director has been re-appointed and I had no knowledge on it. Was I asked?” he said during a public event on Apr 18.
Following Minister Kamal’s remarks, questions have arisen on who actually controls the national flag carrier.
Biman was turned into a public limited company in 2007 from a state-owned corporation. However, the state owns 100 percent stakes of it.
The management was handed over to the board of directors at that time.
On Jan 24, the civil aviation ministry formed a new 13-member board with former air force chief Muhammad Enamul Bari as the chairman.
The senior secretaries to the finance division and prime minister’s office, civil aviation secretary, assistant chief of air staff (operations and training), chief engineer of the army and the chairman Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) are ex-officio members of the board.
BGMEA President Md Siddiqur Rahman, Supreme Court lawyer Tanjib-ul Alam; Managing Director of Emerging Credit Rating Ltd Noor-e-Khoda Abdul Mobin were retained as board members.
Besides them, Biman’s MD and CEO AM Mosaddique Ahmed also sits on the board as an ex-officio member.
A Biman official, asking not to be named, said “As it’s a fully state-owned organisation, major decisions come from the prime minister. The board’s recommendations are forwarded to the PMO through the ministry.”
“The civil aviation secretary is on the board, so the ministry or the minister’s opinion is reflected through him,” the official told Bangla Tribune.
A member of the parliamentary panel for the civil aviation ministry, however, said that usually the minister has knowledge on major decisions over Biman.
“If the minister does not know it, then it’s his failure. The board consists of two representatives from the ministry — its secretary and the CAAB chairman. They are supposed to brief the minister. It’s their job to get the minister’s opinion,” the lawmaker, preferring anonymity, told Bangla Tribune.
The appointment of managing director is usually recommended by the minister, according to former civil aviation minister GM Quader.
“That was the case, when I was in office. May be it was bypassed this time as there was a new minister,” the Jatiya Party leader told Bangla Tribune.
In a major cabinet reshuffle on Jan 3, AKM Shajahan Kamal replaced Rashed Khan Menon, the chief of Awami League’s ally Workers’ Party of Bangladesh, as the civil aviation minister.
Three weeks later, the ministry issued the official order forming the board for the year 2018.
Quader had helmed the ministry between January 2009 and December 2011 during the Awami League-led Grand Alliance government.
The Jatiya Party co-chairman says somehow the civil aviation ministry’s recommendations “are being diluted” when it reaches the prime minister’s office.
“The prime minister remains busy with a lot of thing. I had always maintained that the ministry should be in charge of hiring and firing as that would mean it will be in control (of Biman),” he added.