Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus Fights To Keep Job At His Microfinance Bank

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus filed an appeal Wednesday with Bangladesh's highest court in a final attempt to keep his job at the microfinance bank he founded.

Last week, Bangladesh's central bank ordered 71-year-old Yunus out of Grameen Bank, saying he was violating the country's retirement laws. A High Court upheld that decision on Tuesday.

An outspoken government critic, Yunus has said his dismissal is illegal and alleged that the government is trying to take control of his bank.

The appeal is Yunus' last legal option in his bid to remain Grameen's managing director, a post he has held for nearly 30 years. At issue is whether the central bank was properly consulted when Grameen exempted Yunus from its mandated retirement age of 60.

Supreme Court judge Syed Mahmud Hossain said arguments on the appeal will be heard March 15.

Yunus and Grameen Bank pioneered the practice of using tiny loans to help lift people out of poverty, inspiring such lending throughout the developing world. The concept won Yunus and the bank the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.

Comments

[RandyMan7027]

07:04 PM on 03/09/2011

I began lending thru Kiva after hearing Mr Yunus speak. Ousting him --a famed Nobel Lauret no less-- would be to rid the bank of it's most valuable asset. This smacks of a blatant power grab

[rpatter2]

10:40 PM on 03/09/2011

Agreed!!!

[McKeaton]

02:32 PM on 03/09/2011

I 've talked to several bangladeshi....it's a scam, making poor people getting debt slaves forever. Same what happens in India...

[Ronju01]

02:43 PM on 03/09/2011

Indian MF is for profit (George Soros has invested in one of them) and Grameen is a non-profit members owned organization.

[globalmistiri]

02:56 PM on 03/09/2011

http://rob­­humell.bl­o­gspot.co­m/­2011/03­/da­ngerou­s-li­aison­s-saj­eeb-­wazeds­-oi­ly.html

[globalmistiri]

02:54 PM on 03/09/2011

Yunus's bank is owned by the borrowers. Those several bangladeshis you have talked to are probably the PM's son and his cronies waiting to fill their coffers....read here

http://rob­humell.blo­gspot.com/­2011/03/da­ngerous-li­aisons-saj­eeb-wazeds­-oily.html

[RandyMan7027]

07:10 PM on 03/09/2011

I imagine that organized crime, their loan sharks and the corrupt politicians they support and own are not too happy with Yunus and Grameen. Ill make another interest-free loan to an aspiring entrepreneur today. Microfinance rocks!

[Ronju01]

02:22 PM on 03/09/2011

Grameen Brand has created a formidable voting block and can easily influence general election of Bangladesh.

[LeanLeftAmerica]

02:10 PM on 03/09/2011

The man was helping the poor - of course someone had to put an end to that.

I guess Bangladesh has republicans too.

[McKeaton]

02:33 PM on 03/09/2011

Yes, he helps them get debt slaves forever...Is it that right?

[EW34]

03:54 PM on 03/09/2011

Have you ever read his books or the statistics of the debts that are repaid?

It's like mid to high 90's % that loans are repaid. That % blows away the rate US loans are paid back. His system is VERY impressive. And the amount of people he has helped is flat out inspiring.

[darquelourd]

02:09 PM on 03/09/2011

wow Bangladesh (a relatively poor country) has a retirement age of 60 and the Republicans want to push our (in a very rich country) retirement age back to 70 ... connect the freaking dots people ... someone is lying to you about the future Social Security "crisis"

[sandiegosurf]

02:05 PM on 03/09/2011

Micro-financing is price gouging.

People pay far higher APRs for this !@#$

[sandiegosurf]

02:07 PM on 03/09/2011

But if people want to pay it, then it is fine.

[Ronju01]

02:28 PM on 03/09/2011

Borrowers own Grameen. Other MF are mostly commercial banks.

[TStringfellow]

02:33 PM on 03/09/2011

Exactly. You can't fix the inequalities of Capitalism by creating a bunch of tiny Capitalists.

[Balzac]

02:00 PM on 03/09/2011

Why are they trying to push him out? Probably so they can strip the institution of its integrity, exploit it and flip it.

[brux]

01:15 PM on 03/09/2011

age discrmination!

[garystartswithg]

12:34 PM on 03/09/2011

I never understood how making money off the poor was considered charity. Should BofA reclassify themselves as a non-profit?

[Dameocrat]

12:44 PM on 03/09/2011

They were trying the sell avon lady schemes as an antiipoverty program.

[garystartswithg]

12:55 PM on 03/09/2011

Not just Avon, Avon with interest. Teach a man to fish and where is the profit in that? I think they made a post I made that named names go away.

[globalmistiri]

12:53 PM on 03/09/2011

The Grameen model is remarkable. The reason Yunus got his Nobel is because of this model . The little borrowers own the bank. No one is ripping them off.

[garystartswithg]

01:00 PM on 03/09/2011

Little borrowers? Why the diminuitive?

[Dameocrat]

12:31 PM on 03/09/2011

looks like his bank turned into a loan sharking scheme and as usual neoliberal dems are defending it rather than defending his victims. http://bit.ly/grhgkw

[globalmistiri]

12:55 PM on 03/09/2011

I am sorry, The real victims are going to be the poorest of the poor of Bangladesh, when the PM and his son takes over the banks and makes it their loan sharking operation.

[garystartswithg]

01:01 PM on 03/09/2011

thats just out of the frying pan into the fire. the poorest of the poor are already the victims.

[Lisica]

03:07 PM on 03/09/2011

Exactly.

[ssmigs]

12:20 PM on 03/09/2011

I suspect he got "micro-fired" because he is either viewed as a political threat or an impediment to profiteers who would transform his micro-lending to the poor into loan-sharking.

[raffa657]

12:06 PM on 03/09/2011

Who keeps people who are willing and able to work from working?
Especially, a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
It's obviously an attempt to get his bank.
It bothers me that there's always someone or something,(greed), making good peoples lives difficult.

[garystartswithg]

12:45 PM on 03/09/2011

Microfinance has only caused a lot of problems for the poor it lends money too. Would you consider BofA a chairty for giving you a line of credit? Why would you consider microfinance any different?

[sgtsarcasm]

01:00 PM on 03/09/2011

You are patently wrong...

Micro-lending when done in good faith, as in the case of Muhammad Yunus' bank, keeps families alive and able to support their own development. Without his bank countless people in Bangladesh would have starved to death or turned to dehumanizing endeavors in order to survive.

I fully encourage you to read his book "Banker to the Poor" and understand his banks' philosophy about empowering people to take control of their own lives to the benefit of themselves and their neighbors.

That is, if you are interested in knowing the truth of the matter...

[Ronju01]

02:56 PM on 03/09/2011

If BoA give me a line of credit without collaterals and with no credit history then I would consider it charity.

[Kim Greenhouse]

11:33 AM on 03/09/2011

Dr. Yunus is so good hearted and full of childlike innocence that I will bet that he could never imagine this kind of attack actually happening to him, or, that his own government would dare to try to oust him from his own creation. The fact is that collateralized lending is outdated, inadequate, ineffective, parasitic & doesn't inspire commerce, entrepreneurship. The core beliefs about lending, specifically, the criteria for lending were conceived in greed, disassociation & oppression. Central bankers don't understand the generative instrument of credit capitalization that Dr. Yunus built.

Dr. Yunus has developed a poverty elimination tool with the social consciousness to go with it.
He has created many solutions to bring prosperity, opportunity, financing, lending, telecommunications & commerce to millions of people more than any one person I have
ever known.

He has stewarded his brand of generosity & commerce with love, compassion, sweetness & marvel. If he could have gotten the interest level below 14%, he would have. He did what he had to do to get the new paradigm of credit capital started within what was possible.

In 2003, most broadcast and print networks were DISINTERESTED in him even though he had been doing it for 25 YEARS. He took my call and was open to talking with me when I wasn't "on the air" or, had a firm broadcasting deal on paper. Listen to what unfolded between us.

It's Rainmaking Time!

http://itsrainmakingtime.com/2004/muhammadyunus

[Luckenbach]

11:37 AM on 03/09/2011

Do you have evidence to support that it is "a poverty elimination tool"? I have plenty that it isn't.

[globalmistiri]

11:44 AM on 03/09/2011

There are also lots of evidence that the PM's son Sajeeb Wazed took $2 million from Chevron. Can you provide evidence that these guys are not behind it?

[lesleypalmer]

01:08 PM on 03/09/2011

Please enlighten us.

[raffa657]

12:07 PM on 03/09/2011

Here! Here!

[globalmistiri]

11:31 AM on 03/09/2011

The collusion of western oil and energy interests continues. They will not be stop at anything -

http://robhumell.blogspot.com/2011/03/dangerous-liaisons-sajeeb-wazeds-oily.html

[BJHenton]

11:25 AM on 03/09/2011

Have the Republicans moved to Bangladesh

[globalmistiri]

11:34 AM on 03/09/2011

Yes, the bought the PM's son.