Refrain from 'despicable politics' against Grameen Bank
B Chy urges govt
Former president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury yesterday urged the government to refrain from playing “despicable and misguided politics” against Grameen Bank.
Any government, excluding the Awami League, which comes to power in the future will restore Grameen Bank's dignity by canceling the amendment to the Grameen Bank Ordinance, 1983, said the Bikalpadhara president in a statement.
On Thursday, President Zillur Rahman promulgated the amended ordinance giving more power to the government-appointed Grameen Bank chairman to choose a managing director for the microlender.
The post of the bank's managing director fell vacant after Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus was forced to step down as its chief executive in line with the central bank's directive in May last year.
Under the amendment, the Grameen Bank chairman, instead of the board of the bank as originally provided, would form a selection committee in consultation with the board for selecting the bank's managing director.
The chairman will also be able to select a three-member panel for the appointment of the managing director.
Badruddoza said the Awami League would be a victim of the “unacceptable politics” it is playing with Grameen Bank and this period would go down as a black episode in history.
He said the government was undermining this unique bank by bringing it down to the level of normal banks.
He added, “We should not forget that Grameen Bank, as an institution, also received the Nobel Prize.”
“Therefore, we should not try to undermine such an institution which achieved the Nobel prize through its own characteristics and through the efforts of 86 lakh women. Otherwise Bangladesh will be defamed as a country, not Grameen Bank,” read the statement.
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