Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Yunus will not leave Grameen Bank

Yesterday, we posted on demands for Muhammad Yunus to retire. The Finance Minister of Bangladesh says that Yunus should retire citing a seldom enforced law. Yunus is now firing back and says he has no plans to leave his Grameen Bank.

From CNN, writer Farid Ahmed gives us Yunus' reaction.

"We established Grameen Bank through a special ordinance, with rules that are specific, according to which my current term as managing director is fully valid. Government has three representatives on the board and they have unanimously approved these rules," he said.

Bangladeshi Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith has said that Yunus is too old to continue as managing director of the bank. "Normally the retirement age of a bank's managing director in Bangladesh is 65, and Professor Yunus is now 70," Muhith has said.

Yunis has been the target of three recent lawsuits.

Muhith said the move had no link to politics, but many analysts said Yunus was still under fire at home for criticizing politicians and trying to form a political party four years ago during an interim, unelected government that was backed by the military. That party was later abandoned.

1 comment:

Ryan Simone said...

Yunus has every right to continue on working at his current position. As the founder of the Grameen Bank, he was the pioneer of micro-lending. Through his work alone, thousands of people have been given opportunities to start businesses and be self sufficient. Solving the poverty issue is difficult to say the least, and Yunus is one of the few individuals who has had a huge impact. To say he should step down due to a small age technicality is preposterous. Without Yunus, the Grameen Bank would not exist. Although, it is expected in Bangladesh that bank managing directors retire at the age of 65, this case calls for special circumstances. The Grameen Bank is Yunus' dream and vision. Removing him from his position would be an insult.