Nine female members of the Grameen Bank board have lost their posts as the parliamentary affairs ministry has published a gazette notification on the passage of the Grameen Bank Act 2013, which replaces the 1983 ordinance.

An official of the Grameen Bank said the bank would prepare for an election to the board after the Banking Division received the election rules from the ministry and in the meantime the three government members and chairman of the bank would operate the bank.

The election to the board has to be held within six months of receiving the election rules.

The law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry on Tuesday issued the gazette notification on the new Grameen Bank law.

Tahsina Khatun, one of the nine female members of the Grameen Bank board, alleged that the government was removing them from the board “forcibly” through the new law.

“We were elected to the board of directors for up to 2015 but the government has done everything just to remove the poor women from the board,” she told the Dhaka Tribune. “It will be remembered in the history as an example of the government’s blunt intervention.”

Tahsina said the Grameen Bank board would not need the female directors as the chairman and three government-appointed members would fulfil the board’s quorum.

The Grameen Bank ordinance used to require the chairman and four members of the board to fulfil the quorum.

Parliament passed the much-talked-about Grameen Bank Act 2013 on November 5, elevating the government’s role in running the microcredit organisation without any increment of its ownership stakes. Finance Minister AMA Muhith last month said the nine “pro-Yunus” female directors of Grameen Bank would lose their positions once parliament approved the relevant bill.

News:Dhaka Tribune/21-Nov-2013