DHAKA, 23 February 2007 — Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus announced his entry into politics yesterday by formally launching his “Nagorik Shakti” or “Citizens’ Power” party and pledging to help “change the fate of the nation.” Yunus, known as the “banker to the poor,” released an open letter stating his plan to launch the party for the next general election.
“I have decided to join your endeavor to create a new politics in the country and create a new party,” he said in the letter, addressed to the citizens of Bangladesh. “Pray for me so that I can fulfill your expectations,” Yunus said.
Speaking to reporters at Dhaka’s Zia International Airport before leaving for the United Arab Emirates, Yunus said he hoped to change Bangladesh’s confrontational political culture.
Elections have been put on hold amid a stalemate between the two main parties, which are bitterly opposed.
“We have an age-old tradition of confrontation in politics. My politics will be the politics of unity and peace to establish honesty in politics and to change the fate of the nation,” Yunus said.
“These politics will be non-communal, secular and democratic and it will be free of corruption,” he added.
Yunus and the Grameen Bank, which he founded to offer small loans to the very poor, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last October.
The micro-credit pioneer had previously shunned the murky and sometimes violent world of Bangladeshi politics. The South Asian nation is regularly ranked among the most corrupt in the world.
Earlier this month, however, Yunus wrote an open letter lamenting the state of Bangladeshi democracy and seeking the views of ordinary people on whether he should launch a political party.
“I, like you, witnessed where our political culture has brought the country and how it attempted to destroy the country’s future possibilities,” he said.
The party name was announced at the weekend and Yunus said it would contest all parliamentary seats at the next election, for which a date has yet to be set.
A ballot scheduled for Jan. 22 was canceled when President Iajuddin Ahmed stepped down as head of the interim government and imposed a state of emergency.
Ex-Army Chief Named Anti-Graft Boss
A retired army chief was appointed head of Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission yesterday as the military-backed interim government pursued its drive to clean up politics ahead of elections.
An official of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) said Hasan Mashud Chowdhury was named head of the state body and two others were appointed fellow commissioner.
Three previous commissioners, including ACC chief Sultan Hossain, resigned earlier this month after they were criticized for failing to fight widespread corruption in governance.
The new ACC chief Mashud was an adviser to the first caretaker administration headed by President Iajuddin Ahmed, which took over after Khaleda Zia ended a five-year term as prime minister in late October.
But Mashud and three other advisers quit after a few weeks due to differences with the president, government officials said.
The ACC’s prime tasks will be to investigate charges of corruption against more than 100 senior politicians, including about a dozen former ministers.
