The board members and employees of Grameen Bank have urged the government to appoint Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus as the bank's chairman.
Grameen Bank Karmachari Samity (employees' association) made the call yesterday, hours after the Supreme Court refused Yunus' petition to overturn an order that dismissed him from the bank.
The employees held a press conference at the bank's headquarters in Mirpur and observed countrywide work abstention from 11:30am to 6:00pm protesting removal of Prof Yunus.
The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed two petitions filed in connection with Yunus' removal from the post of managing director at Grameen Bank.
Meanwhile in a statement, nine board members of Grameen Bank said they are deeply disappointed by the decision of the apex court and worried about the fate of the bank. They urged the government to protect Grameen Bank by appointing Prof Yunus as its chairman.
Prof Yunus is now awaiting instructions of the Grameen Bank board of directors on his handing over the charges of managing director, added the statement.
Khandoker Abdus Safi Manzur, acting president of the employees' association, read out the written statement at the press conference while the association's General Secretary Mohsin Reza and its former president Sagirur Rashid Chowdhury, among others, addressed the conference.
Chowdhury gave two weeks' ultimatum to the government for appointing Prof Yunus as chairman of the bank, or else the Grameen employees would go on a tough movement.
"If we see a consensus on the matter (chairmanship), we will not agitate," he said, adding that the civil society and Grameen borrowers will join them in launching the movement.
Source: The Daily Star (May 5, 2011)
