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New law aims to destroy GB

9 directors protest govt move to take control

Staff Correspondent
Nine elected borrower-directors of Grameen Bank yesterday condemned the Grameen Bank Act 2013, urging the government to keep from going ahead with the law.
The female directors vehemently protested the Act, which is now waiting to be passed in parliament, saying that the new law would snatch power from the bank's 84 lakh borrower-shareholders and that it was an initiative of the government to take control of the microlender.
Speaking at a protest rally on Grameen Bank premises in the capital, Tahsina Khatun, a borrower-director of the 12-member board, said: "The new Act is nothing but an attempt to destroy the bank."
She said there was no point in bringing in the law, as the bank had been running efficiently for the last three decades and there was no incident of irregularities in the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organisation.
"If the government takes control of the bank, it will not take long for corruption to infiltrate the organisation, "said
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Tahsina.
She questioned how the government could bring new laws to control the bank when it only owned 25 percent share against the borrower-shareholders' 75 percent stake.
The director from Mymensingh zone said the government had resorted to trickery to grab the bank's power, which had so far been vested with the borrower-directors.
"Through this, the government not only seeks to deprive the borrower-directors, but also plotting to ruin the bank," she said while reading out a statement.
The nine directors also said the Grameen Bank Ordinance 1983 only gave power to the government to prepare rules for electing the directors from the borrowershareholders.
"But the new Act has given the government the power to formulate any rules of the bank. The new law has also empowered
Bangladesh Bank to implement rules of the Act."
"We are the majority shareholders of the bank. We also have the majority stake in the board. Despite all this, the government is taking control of all the policy related issues of the bank by bypassing the majority board members.”
"Doesn't it amount to snatching power from the 84 lakh borrower-shareholders?" Tahsina asked.
The directors also criticised the government for formulating the draft election rules, which is now also at the final stage, for the nine borrower-directors.
Tahsina said through the changes, the government was going to introduce an election process that would encourage politicisation and harm Grameen Bank.
The Grameen Bank Employees Association, which has more than 26,000 members, yesterday extended its support to the elected directors and condemned the new
Act and the draft election rules.
Shamsul Alam, president of the employees association, said if the government-appointed commissioner oversees the elections, politics would sneak into the poll process.
"As a result, the bank's strong foundation will fall apart. We don't want any intervention from outside in the election process," he said.
M Shahjahan, acting managing director of Grameen Bank who was also present at the association's rally, said: "Ifwearetohold elections at every centre with between 35,000 and 40,000 member-voters, there will be conflict during the elections."
"The bank might face disorder. It will not bring any good," he said, adding, "The bank should be allowed to run as it has been so far. Otherwise, it will be suicidal for the bank. ”
The employees association will hold protests against the Act at all its zonal and area offices on November 3.