Keeping it in the family: Thamanat hands Cabinet post to brother

Akara Prompow, the younger brother of caretaker Agriculture Minister Thamanat Prompow, has been granted a Cabinet seat apparently because his older brother has a questionable background.

As per the Cabinet list published in the Royal Gazette on Wednesday, Akara, a first-timer, has been given the post of deputy agriculture minister.

Born on April 9, 1972, in Phayao, Akara completed his bachelor's degree in mass communications at Ramkhamhaeng University, before doing his master’s on business administration at the TAFE Sydney Institute in Australia.

Akara served as deputy CEO of Phayao Provincial Administrative Organisation twice before joining Palang Pracharat Party (PPP) ahead of the 2019 general election. He also served as a member of the party’s strategic committee for the North.

The new minister previously served as an adviser to Thamanat during his time as deputy agriculture minister in the tenure of then-PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha after the 2019 election.

Akara became Thamanat’s heir in the Cabinet after Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra instructed all coalition partners to ensure the ministers under their quota have a clean background.

Thamanat was convicted of conspiring to import heroin to Australia in 1994 and sentenced to six years in jail. He served four years and was deported. Thamanat has all along denied the conviction.