ADDIS ABABA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian House of Peoples' Representatives on Thursday elected its first female house speaker, Muferiat Kamil.

The appointment of Muferiat Kamil as house speaker of the Ethiopian House of Peoples' Representatives, the parliament's lower house, has marked the first ever female house speaker in the parliament's history.

The former house speaker Abadula Gemeda, who had been on the position since 2010, submitted resignation letter in October last year. Gemeda, however, remained in his post after series of consultations with the Ethiopian government soon after tendering his resignation letter.

Kamil, who was the former Ethiopia's Minister of Women's Affairs, is a member of the ruling coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

The newly elected house speaker has on Thursday sworn in before members of the parliament's lower house.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian House of Peoples' Representatives has also on Thursday approved the appointment of new 16 cabinet members upon the recommendation made by Ethiopia's new Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed.

Abiy Ahmed, who was unanimously endorsed by the Ethiopian House People's Representatives (HoPR) as Ethiopia's Prime Minister earlier this month, has reshuffled the East African country's cabinet members, the majority of whom were appointed by the HoPR as per the recommendation of former prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn in November 2016.

Accordingly, 10 new cabinet members have been appointed for various ministerial positions, while 6 others were reshuffled from one ministerial position to another. Some 13 of the ministers in the 29-member cabinet have remained in their previous positions.