Open letter to Mr. Blake, US Assistant Secretary by a Citizen of Bangladesh!

by S.M. Shamimul Moula Ph.D.    March 25, 2011

This is a letter by a Bangladesh Citizen to Mr. Blake, the most discussed Assistant Secretary of US who recently visited Bangladesh!

Hey Mr. Blake, you don’t possess the position to talk an elected Government in the language in which you recently talked with Bangladesh counter part! Did you understand that? Me, as a citizen of Bangladesh advise you to read the followings; as most of us think that you got massive information gap (also you had to tell whatever you were instructed to tell, still for your own understanding!). For the reason, I am describing some facts. Please read it when you get time to anyhow mitigate your mistakes in future if you feel any, even to your own moral:

Prof, Yunus recieved the Nobel Award in peace with peace! This award shows once again Goebbelsian said that a lie uttered a thousand times becomes more credible truth. This Nobel Peace Prize to Yunus and his bank account for the "Friday the 13th" is a slap in the face who tried to release the third world strangling grip of the world hegemons - the IMF, the World Bank and others - who I hate to see the third world to slip grip to become self-sufficient good governments responsible for the rule of law and respect for human rights.

The activity of NGOs is the largest company in the Third World. The IMF and the World Bank, and most companies do not want too China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Venezuela, or even Singapore and South Korea. They love countries like Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan, who either buy weapons, technology and experience of the West, or the construction of industrial infrastructure and good governance. There is no substitute for good governance (honest and efficient) and accountable. Why dragons and tigers do not adopt the non-governmental organizations in Asia and microcredit for development - is the million dollar question.

After writing this, I'm happy for Bangladesh, the Nobel Prize (given wrong though) will bring a good name for the country, which unfortunately is only known poverty and corruption.

I pose the following questions to those who glorify unnecessarily Dr. Yunus and his bank:

Do you know in most cases the husband / father / elder brother, who controls the Grameen loan taken in the name of his wife / daughter / sister? Do you know the bank charges about 30% of the shares? Did you know that Grameen borrowers lend money borrowed at an interest of 80% to 100% in the other villagers? Do you know any other business you can still make a living by borrowing at interest rates of 30%? Do you know some people (especially in Sylhet) men take three or four women to obtain loans from Grameen to run their lucrative money lending business? Do you know that the poorest of the poor (as touted by Yunus, Clinton and others) are not eligible for Grameen loans because they can not repay their loans in 52 installments at a rate of 30%? Do you know that only middle peasants (with some land or assets) are eligible for the credit?

Had such a business that would pay thousands of dollars through credit cards to get rich overnight. I would recommend the Nobel Peace Prize (prize for economics, why not?) All credit card companies because they charge about 18 -20% and nothing happens defaulting. There are many people in low-income group who somehow survive through credit cards, get a loan and pay off debts. And we have no reason to celebrate the performance of Amex, Visa and Master Card for their "noble and humane" acts of "Empowering the poor to credit." It 's a "disgrace" that the credit card companies that charge less than 20% interest rate, on average, has never looked awards around the world!

While Grameen defaulters have to part with their ornaments, tin houses, goats or cattle or even utensils, many credit card simply drop out with paying nothing. After a stay of four or five years in the state of bankruptcy, become insolvent. All these claims are supported by the evidence of my fieldwork and my personal experience in Bangladesh.

Why do you think of Monsanto, the giant of America, dedicated to marketing genetically modified seeds (disastrous in the long term to farmers to buy seeds every planting season before), is a big promoter of microcredit? Why Grameen Bank in Bangladesh do not pay taxes? Why Grameen Phone (a joint venture in Bangladesh and Norway cell phone) do not pay income tax until this year? This is the company's largest cell phone in Bangladesh, the price of local calls and incoming calls. Is there a relationship between this price and the Grameen Telephone Association (Dr. Yunus cellular company) Norwegian telephone company, Nortel? Do you know that Nortel has been the diversion of millions of dollars to Norway without having to pay income tax to Bangladesh? And all that money laundering is done in the name of charity?

What a shame, what a shame!

Instead of flying Bangladesh jointly with this mega-project Shylockian ready to tear the poor in Bangladesh, in collaboration with the Grameen Bank, donors (the real vultures in the field of production, growth and development ) were really sincere in developing countries, poor countries like Bangladesh, they have helped to modernize the Bangladesh government enforcement of the telecommunications system. But, like Nortel, for obvious reasons, found it convenient to invest in the Grameen phone in Bangladesh. And unfortunately, this happened through the active collaboration with Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

Why Dr. Yunus try to introduce Monsanto seeds in Bangladesh? And, finally had to abandon this project due to opposition.

If micro-credit could alleviate poverty, why do hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis go to Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Singapore, hundreds of thousands of taka loan (two hundred thousand per capita, average) to work in menial jobs ? If borrowing fifty or sixty U.S. dollars could alleviate poverty, why are they doing this? Are they stupid?

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