Stand by Grameen

Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday reiterated his call on people to stand by Grameen Bank until the microcredit organisation overcomes its current nightmare.
“People will have to side with Grameen Bank so that no individual or party could destroy it out of vengeance,” he said.
He was speaking at a public reception accorded to him at the auditorium of Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh in the capital.
Over 40 non-political, social and cultural organisations honoured the founder of Grameen Bank for winning the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award of the United States, in recognition of his efforts towards combating global poverty in April this year.
The comments from Yunus came at a time when Grameen Bank has been fighting off government control as the Grameen Bank Commission is set to recommend the future structure of the bank, majority owned by poor rural women.
He said the bank, whose success has been copied around the world and which has made Bangladesh and its people more familiar internationally, had recently come under attack, which has hurt him.
The commission, he complained, had been set up in an attempt to turn the private bank into a public one. “It's not acceptable. It's beyond our understanding why the bank has to be turned into a government bank."
The commission's suggestion to split the bank into 19 pieces sounds eerie, noted Yunus. “It seems that we don't know whether we are living beings or dead. We are having a bad dream.”
The social business pioneer urged people to support the bank and its 84 lakh borrower-members until the “nightmare” ended.
Yunus also criticised another government committee's suggestion to amend the rules that elect nine directors from borrowers.
“Elections to the borrower-director posts are being held without any trouble. Nobody has raised questions about it so far,” he mentioned.
The two-member committee suggested the government appoint an election commission, and also deputy commissioners as returning officer for conducting the elections.
Prof Yunus said the government was trying to change the rules and employ deputy commissioners in an organisation where there was no problem. “These are all unrealistic ideas,” he added.
Grown out of savings from poor women, the bank now lends over Tk1,000 crore a month and holds Tk8,000 crore as deposits, said Yunus.
Language Movement veteran Abdul Matin, eminent jurist barrister Rafiqul Haque, former secretary M Moniruzzaman and convener of the reception organising committee MM Mehebub Rahman were present, among others.