The Sheriff
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 10, 2019
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Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus, ambaye ni mshindi wa Nobel ndiye atakayeongoza serikali ya mpito ya nchi ya Bangladesh baada ya Waziri Mkuu wa zamani Sheikh Hasina kujiuzulu na kukimbia nchi kufuatia vuguvugu kubwa la kupinga utawala wake lililoongozwa na wanafunzi.
Tangazo hilo limetolewa mapema leo Jumatano na Joynal Abedin, ambaye ni katibu wa waandishi wa habari wa Rais Mohammed Shahabuddin. Abedin pia alisema kuwa wanachama wengine wa serikali itakayoongozwa na Yunus wataamuliwa hivi karibuni baada ya majadiliano na vyama vya kisiasa na wadau wengine.
Viongozi wa maandamano ya wanafunzi, makamanda wa majeshi matatu ya nchi hiyo, na wanachama wa jamuiya za kiraia, pamoja na baadhi ya viongozi wa jumuiya za wafanyabiashara, walifanya mkutano na rais kwa zaidi ya saa tano usiku wa Jumanne ili kuamua mkuu wa serikali ya mpito.
Wanafunzi hapo awali walipendekeza Yunus na kusema kuwa mwasisi huyo wa mikopo midogo mwenye umri wa miaka 83 alikuwa amekubali. Vyombo vya habari vimeripoti kuwa Yunus anatarajiwa kurejea nchini kutoka Paris hivi karibuni.
Baada ya uamuzi huo, viongozi wa wanafunzi waliondoka katika nyumba rasmi ya rais muda mfupi baada ya usiku wa manane, wakiwa wameridhika na kukaribisha uamuzi huo.
Yunus amewahi kufanya nini?
Yunus ambaye amekuwa hasimu wa muda mrefu wa Hasina, alianzisha Benki ya Grameen mwaka 1983 ili kutoa mikopo midogo kwa wajasiriamali ambao hawangeweza kupata mikopo ya kawaida. Mafanikio ya benki hiyo katika kuinua watu kutoka umasikini yalisababisha juhudi za mikopo midogo katika nchi nyingine.
Yunus alijikuta kwenye matatizo mwaka 2008 wakati utawala wa Hasina ulipoanzisha uchunguzi dhidi yake. Alitangaza kuwa angeunda chama cha siasa mwaka 2007 wakati nchi ikiongozwa na serikali iliyoungwa mkono na jeshi, lakini hakutekeleza.
Wakati wa uchunguzi huo, Hasina alimshutumu Yunus kwa kutumia nguvu na njia nyingine kurejesha mikopo kutoka kwa wanawake maskini vijijini kama mkuu wa Benki ya Grameen. Yunus alikanusha madai hayo.
Alipelekwa mahakamani mwaka 2013 kwa mashtaka ya kupokea pesa bila ruhusa ya serikali, ikiwa ni pamoja na Tuzo yake ya Nobel na ada za vitabu. Baadaye alikabiliwa na mashtaka zaidi yanayohusisha kampuni nyingine alizoanzisha, ikiwa ni pamoja na Grameen Telecom, ambayo ni sehemu ya kampuni kubwa ya simu za mkononi nchini, Grameenphone, tawi la kampuni kubwa ya mawasiliano ya simu ya Norway, Telenor.
Mwaka 2023, baadhi ya wafanyakazi wa zamani wa Grameen Telecom walifungua kesi dhidi ya Yunus wakimtuhumu kwa kufuja mafao yao ya kazi. Alikanusha tuhuma hizo.
Mapema mwaka huu, mahakama maalum nchini Bangladesh ilimshtaki Yunus na wengine 13 kwa mashtaka ya kesi ya ubadhirifu wa $2m. Yunus alikana mashtaka na kwa sasa yuko nje kwa dhamana. Wafuasi wa Yunus wanasema amelengwa kwa sababu ya uhusiano wake mbaya na Hasina.
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Bangladesh’s Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will head the country’s interim government after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stepped down and fled the country amid a mass uprising against her rule led mostly by students.
The announcement early on Wednesday came from Joynal Abedin, the press secretary of President Mohammed Shahabuddin.
Abedin also said the other members of the Yunus-led government would be decided soon after discussion with political parties and other stakeholders.
The leaders of the student protests, the chiefs of the country’s three divisions of the military, and civil society members, as well as some business leaders, held a meeting with the president for more than five hours late on Tuesday to decide on the head of the interim administration.
The students had earlier proposed Yunus and said the 83-year-old microfinance pioneer had agreed. He is expected to return to the country from Paris soon, local media reported.
Following the decision, student leaders left the president’s official house shortly after midnight, satisfied and welcoming the decision.
Nahid Islam, a leader of the student group, called the talks “fruitful” and said Shahabuddin had agreed that the interim government “will be formed within the shortest time” possible.
Shahabuddin also sacked the national police chief in the wake of deadly protests that sparked Hasina’s departure and named a replacement, his office said.
Longtime Hasina critic
Yunus is a well-known critic and political opponent of Hasina. He called her resignation the country’s “second liberation day”. She had once called him a “bloodsucker”.An economist and banker by profession, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering the use of microcredit to help impoverished people, particularly women.
The Nobel Peace Prize committee credited Yunus and his Grameen Bank “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below”.
Yunus founded Grameen Bank in 1983 to provide small loans to entrepreneurs who would not normally qualify to receive them. The bank’s success in lifting people out of poverty led to similar microfinancing efforts in other countries.
He ran into trouble with Hasina in 2008, when her administration launched a series of investigations into him. He had announced he would form a political party in 2007 when the country was run by a military-backed government, but did not follow through.
During the investigations, Hasina accused Yunus of using force and other means to recover loans from poor rural women as the head of Grameen Bank. Yunus denied the allegations.
He was put on trial in 2013 on charges of receiving money without government permission, including his Nobel Prize and royalties from a book. He later faced more charges involving other companies he created, including Grameen Telecom, which is part of the country’s largest mobile phone company, Grameenphone, a subsidiary of Norwegian telecom giant Telenor.
In 2023, some former Grameen Telecom workers filed a case against Yunus accusing him of siphoning off their job benefits. He denied the accusations.
Earlier this year, a special judge’s court in Bangladesh indicted Yunus and 13 others on charges over the $2m embezzlement case. Yunus pleaded not guilty and is out on bail for now.
Yunus’s supporters say he has been targeted because of his frosty relations with Hasina.
Source: Al Jazeera
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