The
other day we went with the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Prof. Muhammad Yunus, to
meet President Yoweri Museveni at State House in Entebbe. Prof. Muhammad Yunus
has more fame than many of the world leaders and his works are now subject to
major academic debate. Prof. Yunus is a Professor of Economics who became
famous because of his novel idea of lending to the poor primarily women which
resulted into the formation of the famous Grameen Bank.
The
Grameen Bank of Bangladesh founded by Muhammad Yunus is famous for microcredit,
giving small credit to women to change their lives. The bank is now owned by the
borrowers who are the shareholders. The bank has over 8 million shareholders and
to date it has lent over 12.5 billion US dollars in small loans. Over 90
percent of the beneficiaries are women. This effort by Prof. Muhammad Yunus and
transforming the lives of millions of the poor in a poverty stricken country
like Bangladesh is what gave Muhammad Yunus the Nobel Peace Prize. Earning a
nobel peace prize is not an everyday thing. Such a person must be held in
esteem and earns the respect of the entire world. This is the famous Prof.
Muhammad Yunus.
Meeting
with the President Museveni, I noted that Muhammad Yunus had met his match.
Everybody would wish to listen to a Nobel Peace Prize winner speak and such
people are respected and revered.
Three
things I noted and possibly learnt from my interaction with Muhammad Yunus in
the 2 day encounter I had with him and in the engagements that we had:
He is a
very simple person and does not have the sophistication of the wealthy people. Indeed
he represents poor people by his approach and I guess his life style. He
dresses in the usual ordinary Bangladesh Kurta Pajama (a common dress on the
Indian sub-continent) with the peticoat. He doesn't carry himself around as an
important person. Indeed an ambassador of the poor.
Travelling
around Kampala, he was moved around in an old Toyota TX. You would have
expected that the State should have provided him with one of the BMWs that
carry very important foreign dignitaries.
As an
Ambassador of the Poor, Prof.Yunus led by example, a modest man. While we waited to go to State House, we waited
at the Imperial Golf View Hotel. Behind the doors, I talked to Karim Hirji, the
owner of the hotel to arrange a comfortable room where Prof. Yunus would wait.
He rejected it, preferring to wait at the reception. Luckily since he doesn't
carry himself as an important person, nobody noticed that this simple man
dressed in the simple Bangladesh dress was a Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
Indeed
a cleaner in the hotel would have told him to move away and he would have
obliged. That is Muhammad Yunus for you. A very ordinary person who caused a
revolution to improve the lives of the poor through micro credit.
As he
presented his case, Muhammad Yunus was advocating for Social Business, a new
concept. As he put it to President Museveni, I saw him fail to put across this
very important concept which he came to preach to this country. This was my
second lesson from my interaction with Muhammad Yunus; even the mighty are
vulnerable especially when they meet with the prepared. Muhammad Yunus
explained to the President what social business was and he simply failed to say
it. Very unfortunate. He instead asked his aides to explain it and they did a
bad job at it. They brought out a case study of one Robert Okodia in Lira. I
have visited Robert and he is an outstanding young man who has won various
prizes for his work. He is also going to benefit from a loan by the Yunus
Social Business Fund. He has also met the President. I feared at that time that
if the President had found out who it was, the whole story would collapse.
It
wasn't a very good example, it didn't bring out the concept as professed by
Muhammad Yunus. It was at this time that Museveni's best came out. Museveni
listens a lot and pays attention to detail. He is very knowledgeable and widely
read. It was visible during the meeting that he was tired and sleepy but still
very sharp. Noting that they had failed to explain the concept to him, he
turned to Prof. Yunus' background and activities. Muhammad Yunus was visibly
shocked by Museveni's knowledge of Bangladesh's history and the current leaders
of Bangladesh. Museveni talked about the
two warring women politicians Sheik Hasina and Begum Zia. Muhammad Yunus would keep on saying "oh you know
that.." showing surprise that Museveni knew alot about Bangladesh. Indeed
he knows a lot about many things in the world. This contributes to his
leadership abilities. Museveni mentioned the leaders who caused a revolution in
Bangladesh and Prof. Yunus responded in the affirmative. The shocker was when
Museveni talked about the role of Indra Ghandi in the war that created
Bangladesh. In the room, I felt there were three people in the room who knew this.
President Museveni, Muhammad Yunus and myself. I wished I could contribute to
the discussion but when visiting the Head of State, there are rules and I kept
the rules and did not utter a word but felt pleased that I knew the stuff.
The
point in this discussion was President Museveni moving away from the main issue
because they failed to tell him what it was to seeking more knowledge about the
person. Muhammad Yunus also came out as a revolutionary. He was teaching in the
USA and he was an activist who advocated for the breakup of Pakistan then into the present Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Muhammad Yunus returned to the country after the Bangladesh war in 1971. Museveni's
knowledge amazed him. I am not sure whether all of us in the room noted his
knowledge of Bangladesh was primarily knowing the revolutionaries in Bangladesh, something he has for
revolutionaries around the world of whom he is one.
The
third aspect was what many people from the Western world think of us as
Africans including our Heads of State. Without mentioning names because I
prefer not to embarrass people, many people from the West come to the country
thinking they can meet with the President just like that. Of course the
President has been very generous especially with investors many of who have
been briefcase investors expecting that Government will give them money even
for doing nothing. I believe there have
been such incidents where investors have come into the country and
disadvantaged the country rather that create the required jobs. Many of them
want to dominate you even when they don't know and show surprise when you
actually demonstrate that you know. Many feel that without them, nothing will
work and indeed they have this attitude of these poor Africans who they help to
do things.
While waiting
to meet the President, one of Muhammad Yunus' handlers decided that they should
leave. I had warned them earlier that " if you are on appointment with the
President, he will definitely see you but his meetings normally overshoot his
planned time". Our visit was on a Cabinet day and the President was
chairing Cabinet. Muhammad Yunus' handlers decided that they should leave. As a
civil servant, I am bound by the rules of the Fountain of Honour . If I am
scheduled to meet the President, I cannot go away because he is late. I know now and again we have waited for
Ministers at functions and they don't turn up. I normally go ahead with the
function but not with the President. He has one million people to see and
unless you are really loaded with money to invest, he would rather not see you.
Our meetings have a cultural tinge. While many meetings with the President are
on schedule, there is not much control about what the people who will meet him
say. The President would appear rude if he says time over for his visitors
hence the long wait for the various people who wait to see him. I thought it
was disrespectful for the country and
the President for a visitor to walk out on the President.
