Removal of Yunus
Govt needs to clarify objectives
Says US ex-envoy Milam
Removal of Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus from the post of managing director of Grameen Bank is worrisome and the government needs to clarify its objectives on this, said William B Milam, a former US ambassador to Bangladesh, yesterday.
"There are economic questions about its (microfinance) impacts on development as a whole… But, in fact, I don't think anybody can deny that millions of millions of very poor people have been out of abject poverty by microfinance, by the lending that goes into productive enterprise," he said.
Milam made the remarks on the sideline of a ceremony at the Army Golf Club in the city to commemorate the contributions made jointly by Bangladesh Armed Forces and members of the US Marine Forces Pacific Command under Operation Sea Angel during the cyclones of Bangladesh in 1991 and 2007.
Milam is now Senior Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. There, he completed a comparative study of modern Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Stating that the US government is quite concerned about the issue, he said if Grameen Bank remains effective as has been under Muhammad Yunus, then everything will be the same more or less and serve the people. Yunus founded the Grameen Bank over three decades back.
"Let's pray to God that is what happens," he said.
He appreciated Bangladesh in terms of education, health, women development in comparison to India, Pakistan, and even other South Asian countries, but said the matter of worries is political confrontation.
"I worry more about the political dynamics, which don't seem to change in 20 years, and I think there is some concern in the West, in Washington and some other capitals and probably a lot of concern in Dhaka," said Milam.
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