Says Prof Yunus
Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus has strongly protested the changes to the GB law, blaming the government for “opening the door for its ultimate destruction.”
Pointing out that the institution was founded as a bank owned and managed by poor women, he said its legal structure did not allow any sort of government interference in the bank, except for regulatory oversight.
“The amendments to the law, which have just been introduced, have created the opportunity for the government to take 100 percent control of the bank if they wish to do so,” said Yunus in a statement yesterday, a day after parliament ratified the Grameen Bank Act, 2013.
The new law elevates the government role in running the microcredit organisation without increasing its ownership in the bank.
The amendments fundamentally changed the character of the bank, mentioned Yunus, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the GB in 2006.
The Nobel laureate said, “I feel extremely sorry that the nation has to go through the unnecessary traumatic experience of seeing a great global iconic institution, created by this nation, be brutally harmed by a group of irresponsible and thoughtless people.”
The immediate task before the country is to repair the enormous damage done to the Grameen Bank law at the earliest opportunity, before it is too late, he added.
He expressed optimism that the whole nation, particularly all women, along with the women of Grameen Bank, their family members, as well as the staff of the bank would rise to the occasion and save the bank.
-With The Daily Star input
