Grameen director protests

A Grameen Bank director yesterday protested her inclusion in a committee formed to select the managing director of the microfinance institution, saying it was done without her consent.
Tahsina Khatun, one of the nine borrower-directors, said, "I came to know today [yesterday] from newspaper and television reports that I am in the committee.”
"My name has been put on the list without any discussion with me," she said in a statement.
Her comments came a day after Khondaker Muzammel Huq, chairman of the board, formed the five-member selection committee amid strong opposition from the directors.
Tahsina wrote a letter to the chairman, requested him to withdraw her name from the committee.
The nine directors, who are selected by 84 lakh Grameen members across the country, constitute the majority of the 13-member board.
Tahsina said her name did not come up at the board meeting. The chairman placed four names and said one of the nine borrower-directors would be the fifth member.
Tahsina said although the nine directors did not approve the selection committee, the chairman claimed the committee was “formed by the board.”
Asked on Thursday whether the board approved the selection committee, Muzammel told The Daily Star, "The board did not oppose it either."
In a statement yesterday, he also said the board of directors of Grameen Bank has decided to form the selection committee, which will draw up a short list of candidates for managing director.
The post has been vacant since May last year when Prof Muhammad Yunus stepped down as managing director of the bank he founded more than three decades ago.
The nine directors have been proposing that the board accepts the selection committee that includes Dr Yunus, former caretaker government adviser Akbar Ali Khan, former deputy managing director of Grameen Bank Khaled Shams, former member of Grameen Bank board Kamrul Hasan, and Tahsina Khatun.