Nick Stace 13 May 2011
In the wake of the piece I wrote yesterday, it seems the Bangladeshi government is in the process of taking over Grameen Bank. Professor Yunus's departure will shock his many admirers and supporters around the world. In his resignation letter, which followed the torture of the chairman of the Grameen Employee Association and multiple attempts to intimidate and bribe the female directors on the board, he has stated that he hopes his departure will help "to prevent undue disruption of the activities of Grameen Bank".
Professor Muhammad Yunus, who has resigned as managing director of Grameen Bank Photo: Sipa Press/Rex Features
Before the ink was dry on his letter of resignation, the finance minister Muhith yesterday set out his reforms of Grameen Bank. According to the minister, the poor women from the villages do not bring the required level of oversight to the board, announcing that they will be replaced by "competent" people. He also said that the shareholding of the government would increase, and the rest of the Grameen social businesses will be brought under review.
The fact that Grameen loans money to some of the poorest on terms they can repay and is governed by a board in touch with the world in which they operate, is a model of sustainability and effective governance. It is in contrast to much larger financial institutions whose flaws were exposed by the global financial crisis for their conflicted governance and the complexities of their business models. Grameen has also been a world away from Bangladeshi government incompetence and corruption that has infected the financial system and the running of state-owned banks.
It is also sending out a threatening message to the rest of civil society, NGOs, and the social businesses that vibrantly support the life of the poorest in the country, that they may be next. It has been thanks to the social movement in Bangladesh that there has been real progress on the UN's Millennium Development Goals, in particular to "eradicate extreme poverty by 2015". It seems the politicians in Dhaka couldn’t care less; perhaps explaining in the starkest of terms why it was Yunus, not prime minister Hasina, who received the Nobel Prize in 2006.
The government may win their battles, and in the process make themselves more powerful and personally wealthy, but the war they will unfortunately lose is the one Professor Yunus started 35 years ago: the war against poverty.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/offshorefinance/8511461/Muhammad-Yunus-resigns-from-Grameen-Bank.html
In the wake of the piece I wrote yesterday, it seems the Bangladeshi government is in the process of taking over Grameen Bank. Professor Yunus's departure will shock his many admirers and supporters around the world. In his resignation letter, which followed the torture of the chairman of the Grameen Employee Association and multiple attempts to intimidate and bribe the female directors on the board, he has stated that he hopes his departure will help "to prevent undue disruption of the activities of Grameen Bank".
Professor Muhammad Yunus, who has resigned as managing director of Grameen Bank Photo: Sipa Press/Rex Features
Before the ink was dry on his letter of resignation, the finance minister Muhith yesterday set out his reforms of Grameen Bank. According to the minister, the poor women from the villages do not bring the required level of oversight to the board, announcing that they will be replaced by "competent" people. He also said that the shareholding of the government would increase, and the rest of the Grameen social businesses will be brought under review.
The fact that Grameen loans money to some of the poorest on terms they can repay and is governed by a board in touch with the world in which they operate, is a model of sustainability and effective governance. It is in contrast to much larger financial institutions whose flaws were exposed by the global financial crisis for their conflicted governance and the complexities of their business models. Grameen has also been a world away from Bangladeshi government incompetence and corruption that has infected the financial system and the running of state-owned banks.
It is also sending out a threatening message to the rest of civil society, NGOs, and the social businesses that vibrantly support the life of the poorest in the country, that they may be next. It has been thanks to the social movement in Bangladesh that there has been real progress on the UN's Millennium Development Goals, in particular to "eradicate extreme poverty by 2015". It seems the politicians in Dhaka couldn’t care less; perhaps explaining in the starkest of terms why it was Yunus, not prime minister Hasina, who received the Nobel Prize in 2006.
The government may win their battles, and in the process make themselves more powerful and personally wealthy, but the war they will unfortunately lose is the one Professor Yunus started 35 years ago: the war against poverty.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/offshorefinance/8511461/Muhammad-Yunus-resigns-from-Grameen-Bank.html
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