Mr. AHM Mustafa Kamal FCA, MP has been working as Finance
Minister of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh since 7
January 2019. Under the dynamic leadership of Hon'ble Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina, Mr. Mustafa Kamal has been working hard to successfully
achieve the Development Vision 2021 and 2041 and the Sustainable
Development Goals 2030.
Mr. Kamal was born on 15 June 1947 in Dutiapur village of Bagmara union in Lalmai upazila of Cumilla. His father was late Babru Mia and mother was Saira Begum. Mr. Kamal obtained his primary education from Dattapur Primary School, SSC from Bagmara High School in 1962, later HSC from Cumilla Victoria Government College, and B.Com (Hons) degree from Chittagong Government Commerce College in 1964-1967. In the 1967-68 academic years, he obtained a master's degree in accountancy and law from the University of Dhaka, and in the year 1970, he obtained the first place in the merit list in the then All Pakistan Chartered Accountancy (CA) examination. He was the only Bengali to pass the Chartered Accountancy Examination in Pakistan at that time with such a record number of marks. He was awarded the title 'Lotus' for this brilliant achievement.
Mr Kamal has
been involved in politics since his student life. Throughout his
college life he was involved in student politics. He was a dedicated
organizer of the Bangladesh Awami League during the 6-point movement of
1966, the mass uprise of 1969 and the historic election of 1970.
Mr.
Kamal was nominated by the Bangladesh Awami League for the first time
in 1996 from the then Cumilla-9 Sadar Dakshin constituency (which is now
Cumilla-10 Sadar Dakshin, Lalmai, Nangalkot). During this time he was a
member of the Public Accounts Committee, a member of the Board of
Investment, a member of the Privatization Commission, a member of the
Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Finance, a member of
the Zakat Board and a member of the Senate of the University of
Chittagong. He has been a member of the Central Committee of Bangladesh
Awami League since 2004. From 12 May 2008, he became the convener of
Cumilla South District Awami League. He has been serving as the
president of Cumilla South District Awami League since February 8, 2016.
He was elected as Member of Parliament for the second time in the 2008
Jatiya Sangsad elections as a candidate of Bangladesh Awami League from
Cumilla-10 constituency. He was the Chairman of the Parliamentary
Standing Committee on the Ministry of Finance during 2009 to 2013. He
has been elected as a Member of Parliament for the third time from
Cumilla-10 constituency in the 10th National Assembly election on the
nomination of Bangladesh Awami League. From January 2014, during the
entire tenure of the government, he served as the Minister of Planning
very efficiently. He got elected as a Member of Parliament for the
fourth time from the same constituency in the last Eleventh
Parliamentary Election held on December 30 and became the Minister of
Finance in the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.
The
Banker, a London-based monthly magazine, recently awarded Mr Kamal as
Finance Minister of the Year 2020 for Asia-Pacific and Global for his
contribution to Bangladesh's financial sector. He is the first
Bangladeshi Finance Minister to receive such award.
Mr.
Kamal is a famous cricket patron. He has been involved in cricket for
the last thirty years and has taken part in its development in various
capacities. He established Lotus Kamal Pace Bowling Cricket Academy in
the year 1990. Mustafa Kamal, former director of Abahani Limited, a
reputed cricket club in Bangladesh, was the chairman of the cricket
committee of the clubs from 1991 to 2006. Prior to his participation in
Test cricket in Bangladesh, he led the inclusion of international
cricketers in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League. In the 2012-13
season, all players in domestic first-class cricket were brought under
the central contract of the BCB. He was the President of Bangladesh
Cricket Board from September, 2009 to October, 2013. During his tenure,
he was nominated as the Vice President of the International Cricket
Council for the period 2012-2014. He chaired the ICC's Audit Committee.
He was the President of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) from 2010 to
2012. He was elected as the 11th President of the ICC on 28 May 2014.
However, he resigned from the post of president on April 1, 2015 being
aggrieved by the quality of umpiring in the second quarter-final between
Bangladesh and India in the 2015 Cricket World Cup. This was a protest
to uphold the honor of the country.
Mr
Kamal is the second of three brothers and one sister in the family of
AHM Mustafa Kamal. His wife Kashmiri Kamal is a graduate of Dhaka
University and a successful business woman. Among the two daughters, the
eldest daughter Kashfi Kamal graduated from St. Cloud University in
Minnesota and the youngest daughter Nafisa Kamal graduated from MIT.
Nafisa Kamal is a sports enthusiast like her father and current
chairperson of the Cumilla Victorians.