Forty eminent personalities of the world urged prime minister Sheikh Hasina to reject the report of the government Commission on Grameen Bank (GB) saying that implementation of the report ‘would jeopardise the role that GB and the Grameen family of businesses have played in that fight’.` Commending the leadership of the prime minister in the fight against poverty, they, in a letter to her said, “We are allies and friends of Bangladesh-men and women, public servants and businesspeople, and citizens whose countries have all known the sting of poverty. The letter was published in the global edition of the New York Times on Wednesday as advertisement.
‘We write commend your leadership in the fight to end poverty in your country, and to urge you to reject the findings of a recent commission that would jeopardise the role that GB and the Grameen family of businesses have played in that fight,” the letter said.
The eminent personalities include Nobel Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire, Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Norwegian PM and UN special envoy on climate change and two former US Secretary of States Madelein Albright and George Shultz.
They also called upon the PM Sheikh Hasina to see to it that 54 social businesses run by the Grameen survive and help provide different services like solar power, nutrition and health clinics. Grameen Bank has allowed millions to lift themselves and their families out of destitution, creating an independent, borrower-run company and a model for NGOs the world over. Its borrowers, 97 per cent of whom are women, have shown the power of an economic model centred on equality and inclusion.
The 54 other businesses within the Grameen family provided tailored services to the poor and underprivileged rehabilitating Bangladeshi fisheries; bringing low-cost nutrionally rich food to impoverished communities, building health clinics to offer affordable medical care; and introducing solar power to rural areas without electricity.
Their founder, Muhammad Yunus, has been a tireless advocate for Bangladesh’s success in improving the lives of its people.
Both Bangladesh and the international community have a compelling interest in the safety and soundness of these institutions. We commend you for ensuring that Grameen bank and the grameen businesses are operating in the interests of the people they are meant to serve. However, the “Special Commission on Grameen”, created in May 2012, has not shown the same concern for the well being of these institutions. We believe that it and its members are attempting to lead your governments astray and are putting the Bangladeshi people and their allies at great risk, the letter pointed out.
‘The Commission recommendations recently provided to the finance minister with a set of recommendations. These recommendations would disenfranchise nearly 5 million borrower-shareholders in GB, dismiss the borrowers, who sit on the bank’s board of directors, and replace them with government officials” they said adding it would also result in the government seizing portions of the Grameen businesses.
The letter to the premier Sheikh Hasina further said, “you have continued Bangladesh progress in combating poverty and expressed a commitment to keeping GB and the Grameen businesses healthy and stable for generations to come. We share that goal and urge you to reject any effort by the Commission that would injure Grameen and the Bangladesh people”. The other signatories to the letter included former president of Mexico Vincente E Fox, former President of Peru Alejandro Toledo, Ted Turner, chairman, UN Foundation, Kerry Kennedy, president, Robert F Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights, Kathy Calvin, president and CEO, UN Foundation and Christopher Dodd, former US Senator.
-With The Independent input
