The chairman of Grameen Bank has continued to ignore calls of the majority of the board that Prof Muhammad Yunus should be made the head of the selection committee for choosing a new managing director for the micro-lender.

The newly elected nine members of the board of the bank have also written to the chairman, requesting him to keep Yunus in the selection committee.

In their first board meeting on March 19 after taking office in February this year, they unanimously endorsed their predecessors' position that the Nobel laureate should lead the selection committee.

"On the matter of appointing a new managing director, the decision on a

selection committee that was taken on July 26, 2011, at the 93rd meeting has our complete support and we accordingly accept this decision as our own decision and give approval to the decision, " they said in a joint letter.

The letter from the new members is a continuation of the majority directors' position on the issue.

Nine borrower-directors of the immediate past board, who left office in January after completing their three-year tenure, also said in July last year that Dr Yunus should be made chair of the five-member committee.

However, Khondaker Muzammel Huq, chairman of the board, said there is no scope to make Dr Yunus the head of the search committee, in the light of the Supreme Court verdict, which said

he continued in the office unlawfully for more than 10 years.

Nine borrower-directors make up 75 percent of the 12-member board.

The issue came to the fore again after thegovemmentearlierthisweekruledout making Dr Yunus the chief of the selection committee, although the Grameen Bank Ordinance 1983 that governs the microfinance organisation empowers the board to form the committee.

Akbar All Khan, a former caretaker government adviser, Muhammad Khaled Shams, former deputy managing director of Grameen Bank, Kamrul Hasan, a director, and Rozina Begum, a borrower-director, were supposed to be included in the five-member selection committee. Later, when the minutes of the 93rd meeting were given to Huq for approval he said he did not think the minutes included what were actually discussed at the meeting. Eight borrower-directors differed with the chairman about the minutes.

On November 22, he reversed the decision apparently due to government interference.

Huq, appointed by the government, later formed a five-member committee and took Yunus' name off the list. The new committee comprised three government representatives and two borrowerdirectors. Huq made himself head of the committee.

The committee could not be approved by the board after eight borrower-directors differed with the chairman.

Meanwhile, a sudden burst from Finance Minister AMA Muhith shocked members of Grameen Bank, as they thought the thorn in the relationship between Dr Yunus and a section of the government had been removed after the prime minister requested the European Union to nominate him as the president of the World Bank

“Some members (of the Grameen Bank board) proposed appointment of Dr Yunus as the chairman of the selection committee. But we cannot accept this as a previous MD should not have any role in selecting his successor,”

Muhith told reporters on Saturday.

The post of the managing director of Grameen Bank fell vacant after its iconic chief executive Yunus stepped down in May lastyear.

The Grameen Bank Employees Union also urged the chairman to make Yunus the head of the selection committee, said a leader of the union.

Shajeda, Rehana Aktar, Sultana, Tahsina Khatun, Saleha Khatun, Parul Begum, Merina, Shahida Begum and Momela Begum are the new members of the board.

Lawyers said the government cannot impose a selection committee on the board.

"The board is empowered to form the committee, and it will be decided by the majority of the board," said a lawyer, who is aware ofthe situation.

"But here the chairman is not accepting the decision of the majority of the board members. As a result, he is violating the laws. But the government is not taking any step against him," he told The Daily Star, requesting not to be named.

Both the lawyer and a group of supporters of Grameen Bank said if the committee is imposed from outside, ignoring the decision of the majority of the board, it will only reinforce the notion that the government wants to take over the bank.

Meanwhile, the removal ofYunus

from the bank has apparently started to affect profitability of its core business — a fact that was repeatedly stated by supporters of the anti-poverty activist at home and abroad that his sudden and undignified departure from the bank could risk derailing its success.

The bank made Tk 40 crore in profits from its core business, which is microcredit, in 2010. But it incurred aloss ofTk 24 crore lastyear.

As of March this year, losses have continued, standing at Tk 59.52 crore, accordingtoGrameenBankdata.

"There is a serious leadership crisis at the field level. The fieldlevel managers cannot give decisions when a problem surfaces," said an official of Grameen Bank.

However, Chairman Huq claimed the bank's business is on the right track.

"We disbursed Tk 2,100 crore in January and February in 2012, which is about Tk 600 crore more than that in 2010," said Huq. "Our profit has also gone up. In 2011 it was Tk 85 crore, which was Tk 76 crore in 2010," he told The Daily Star on Monday.

But an official of the bank said: "That is because the bank is making a huge amount of money from its deposits with the commercial banks following the rise in their interest rates for deposit. “

The bank has 83.5 lakh members, 96 percent of whom are women.