Today the president of Bangladesh signed an amendment to the Grameen Bank Ordinance that effects a government take-over the Nobel Prize--winning institution. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is far more powerful than the president, had already approved the amendment.As I blogged earlier, the amendment deprives the Grameen Bank board of its most important function: hiring (and presumably firing) the managing director. The Bank's 8 million members may continue to elect 9 of the 12 board members, but they have all effectively been disenfranchised, despite owning 97% of the Bank. The Bank's era of independence (September 4, 1983--August 23, 2012) is over.In the Wall Street Journal, William Milam castigated the U.S. government for applying too little pressure too late to prevent this sorry outcome. But he offers no independently observable evidence for his judgement. In fact, Hillary Clinton publicly, impertinently voiced her support for the independence of the Grameen Bank while visiting Bangladesh in May. If anything, this inflamed the government to restart its campaign against the Bank. I don't mean to suggest that outsiders should remain silent for fear of further irritating the government. But when dealing with bullies like Hasina, it may be best to speak softly and carry a big stick....And at the end of the day, can we expect the U.S. government or anyone else to wield such a big stick as deter Hasina from pursuing this domestic political vendetta?What now? The best case is that the search committee puts forward a strong candidate who breathes fresh life into the Bank while the government's central bank keeps its hands off. The worst case is that Hasina forgives loans en masse to win votes in the next election, fatally wounding the Bank; that she goes on to take over other Grameen institutions, notably Grameen Telecom with its $1 billion stake in GrameenPhone; and that she even preys on other NGOs such as BRAC.Muhammad Yunus said:
The day will remain branded as a black day in the nation’s history. Our government has turned the Nobel-winning institution (Garmeen Bank) into a different one, snatching its distinctiveness…I don’t have the ability to bear the pain.I hope, there’ll come a government in the future, the first job of which will be to revive the glory of this bank by returning the bank to its poor women owners holding a function at the national level. And the people of this country will heave a sigh of relief on that day…and the well-wishers of these poor women across the globe will feel relieved.
