BNP will provide full independence to GB, if voted to power: Moudud
In response to the opposition’s allegation that the government is going to change the ownership structure of the Grameen Bank (GB), finance minister AMA Muhith, on Wednesday, said in Parliament that the government has no such plans. He also said that the GB, as a bank, is doing well, after the resignation of its managing director (MD), Dr Mohammad Yunus. “The government has no plan to split the GB or change its existing structure… Even we did not change the sharing ratio of 75:25 of the bank,” the minister told Jatiya Sangsad (JS), while making a statement responding to apprehension of BNP lawmaker Barrister Moudud Ahmed, in this regard.
Taking the floor on a point of order, Moudud Ahmed alleged that the government has been planning to split the GB with an ill motive to destroy it, because the authorities want to grab the bank.
Muhith said the GB is doing well after the resignation of Dr Yunus, and the amount of micro-credit disbursement by the bank stood at Tk. 33,000 crore, which was only Tk. 16,000 crore when Dr Yunus was its MD.
He said the government is sympathetic to GB and had injected Tk. 400 crore, when the bank faced problems in 1998. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was co-chair with Hillary Clinton, at a micro-credit conference held at the UN headquarters, in 1997.
While explaining the background of the resignation of Dr Yunus, the finance minister said the government has a soft spot towards GB. Muhith said he had been asked to form an enquiry committee, to investigate the activities of the GB, but, he formed a review committee on the bank. During the review, it was found that as per the service rules prepared by Dr Yunus, the retirement age for GB employees is 60, Muhith said, adding that Dr Yunus, himself, had violated that rule and remained in the MD’s post. This had also been mentioned in the Bangladesh Bank report in 1990-91, he added.
In the meantime, the chairman’s post at GB was empty and the government appointed a chairman, he added.
“Later, Dr Yunus, Prime Minister’s foreign affairs adviser, Dr Gawher Rizvi, and I, sat together, and I requested Dr Yunus to resign and assured him of taking steps to keep him associated with the bank,” the minister said.
“Don’t go for confrontation with government…but Dr Yunus said ‘no’…the context has been changed, because the government has appointed a chairman who is not my likeminded,” Muhith said, adding, “Dr Yunus also said that GB will collapse if he resigned.”
“I wanted to know why will GB collapse? I told Dr Yunus that you have introduced an online system to monitor activities of the GB,” Muhith said, adding, “I also told Dr Yunus that you have failed to prepare a successor.”
“At this stage, I told Dr Yunus that your decision is not acceptable. In reply, Dr Yunus said ‘Okay, I will go to court’,” the finance minister added.
Muhith said Dr Yunus had set up a total of 54 companies under his social business initiative, with financial support from GB. Later, loans were taken from foreign sources for these companies, underwritten by GB and Grameen Phone, Muhith added. He said Dr Yunus received dividends worth several crore taka and clients of the GB should have been given share of this money.
Earlier, senior opposition lawmaker, barrister Moudud Ahmed, alleged that the government was planning to change the ownership structure of the Grameen Bank. He also said, if BNP returns to power in future, they will ensure full independence for the Nobel-winning microfinance institution, Grameen Bank, by returning all its powers.
The BNP Standing Committee member came up with the assurance, taking the floor on a point of order.
He alleged that the government is hurting the rights of women, by attempting to take over a 51 per cent share in Grameen Bank, whose owners are 84 lakh women of the country.
“It will be suicidal, if the government breaks up the Grameen Bank into 19 separate entities,” Moudud said, and urged the government to reconsider its decision.
In response, finance minister AMA Muhith said that Grameen Bank is functioning well, and it is a favourite bank of the government.
He said that he would get the commission’s report soon, and will issue a statement after that.
-With The Independent input
