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Grameen Bank Ordinance Amendment

Pabna civil society slates govt move

Our Correspondent, Pabna
Speakers at a seminar yesterday condemned the government move to amend the Grameen Bank Ordinance, 1983 saying it would deprive its real owners, the 8.3 million poor women, of their say in the bank's management.
Although the board of the bank recommended that Prof Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, leads a committee to select the bank's managing director, the government did not pay any heed to it, they said.
Refusing to follow the recommendation of the owners of the bank will ultimately lead to its fall, they added.
The seminar was organised by a recently formed organisation, "Committee to Protect Grameen Bank and to Resist Opportunists”, in Pabna Press Club.
Ninety-seven percent of Grameen Bank is owned by the 8.3 million poor women borrowers while the government owns the remaining 3 percent.
On August 2, the cabinet approved the amendment proposal to the ordinance that gave almost absolute powers to the government-appointed Grameen Bank chairman to choose a managing director for the microlender.
The post of the bank's managing director fell vacant after Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus was forced to step down as its chief executive in line with the central
bank's directive in May last year.
Under the amendment, the Grameen Bank chairman, instead of the board of the bank as originally provided, would form a selection committee in consultation with the board for selecting the bank's managing director.
The chairman will also be able to select a three-member panel for the appointment of the managing director.
Of the 12 members on the board, nine are women representatives of the borrowers of Grameen Bank and the other three including the chairman are government nominees.
The amendment denies the board of the bank its role in the decision making process of the bank, the lone Asian institution to have won the Nobel prize, said the speakers.
“Prof Muhammad Yunus was successful in empowering poor women across the country by funding their small businesses. There are many countries around the world which are now following his microcredit system,” said veteran columnist Sadek Khan.
ProfYunus was forcibly removed from the bank and the bank's image is being tarnished by the government. Such steps by the government must be prevented for the sake of the rural economy, he added, speaking as the chief guest.
Educationalist Mahataba Uddin Bishwas chaired the program. China-Bangladesh Moitree Samity Secretary F Delwar Hossain read the keynote paper on the occasion.