Oxfam trustee quits board over 'cruel' treatment of ex-boss as governance failures mount
A senior member of Oxfam's governing body has resigned amid accusations of systemic failures in leadership and what one former CEO described as "cruel and inhumane" treatment. Dr Balwant Singh, a trustee since November 2022, said he lost confidence in the board's governance, integrity, and accountability following Halima Begum's departure as chief executive.
Begum left Oxfam in December amidst internal power struggles, with concerns raised about her leadership style. In a statement, Singh expressed his "morally obliged" decision to step down from the board and apologized to Begum for what he described as the cruel treatment of her by the organization's leadership. The resignation comes as part of an independent review into governance failures at Oxfam.
The crisis began last year when Oxfam announced its chair, Charles Gurassa, would be stepping down amid allegations against him, including a grievance claim filed by Begum, who had been stripped of her role in December following the leadership review. A separate investigation firm was appointed to examine concerns over Begum's leadership.
Singh said he was not aware of the statement made on behalf of the board regarding Begum's departure and claimed it did not reflect his views as a trustee. He condemned what he described as "brutal" briefing against Begum, adding that she was not given a right of reply. A lawyer representing Begum had previously described her treatment as part of a "victimising witch-hunt".
The Charity Commission has been called in to remove the current board and launch an independent investigation into governance failures at Oxfam. The charity acknowledged that it would commission an independent review of its board processes following Begum's departure.
A senior member of Oxfam's governing body has resigned amid accusations of systemic failures in leadership and what one former CEO described as "cruel and inhumane" treatment. Dr Balwant Singh, a trustee since November 2022, said he lost confidence in the board's governance, integrity, and accountability following Halima Begum's departure as chief executive.
Begum left Oxfam in December amidst internal power struggles, with concerns raised about her leadership style. In a statement, Singh expressed his "morally obliged" decision to step down from the board and apologized to Begum for what he described as the cruel treatment of her by the organization's leadership. The resignation comes as part of an independent review into governance failures at Oxfam.
The crisis began last year when Oxfam announced its chair, Charles Gurassa, would be stepping down amid allegations against him, including a grievance claim filed by Begum, who had been stripped of her role in December following the leadership review. A separate investigation firm was appointed to examine concerns over Begum's leadership.
Singh said he was not aware of the statement made on behalf of the board regarding Begum's departure and claimed it did not reflect his views as a trustee. He condemned what he described as "brutal" briefing against Begum, adding that she was not given a right of reply. A lawyer representing Begum had previously described her treatment as part of a "victimising witch-hunt".
The Charity Commission has been called in to remove the current board and launch an independent investigation into governance failures at Oxfam. The charity acknowledged that it would commission an independent review of its board processes following Begum's departure.
... cant believe what happened 2 halima begum 
she went through a brutal witch hunt & was left in the dark about her own ousting 
and now another trustee quits over the 'cruel' treatment of her 
its like oxfam's governance is a total disaster 
need more accountability & transparency in these orgs ASAP 
oh man, I'm so sad to hear about Dr Balwant Singh resigning from Oxfam's board. Like, what happened with Halima Begum? 
The whole thing sounds super messy and unfair. Cruel treatment of her by the leadership is just unacceptable 
. I mean, can you imagine if someone did that to you? It would be devastating. And now there's a Charity Commission investigation... hope they get to the bottom of it 
. We need more transparency and empathy in our organizations 
.
by the stats on trust within Oxfam - 45% (
) of staff felt they couldn't raise concerns without fear of reprisal, and 34% (
) believed the organization was "not transparent enough" about its governance issues. The chart showing a steady decline in public trust over the past year is pretty eye-opening 
) that they started to take notice 
.
. The charity has seen a 30% (
. With a 90% (
, they were doing such amazing work back then. And now it seems like things have gone downhill. The whole thing with Halima Begum leaving is just soooo sad... what happened to her, you know? 
It's not fair that she had to go through all that drama and treatment from the board. I mean, I've seen some rough stuff in my day, but this takes the cake 
. And now another trustee is quitting over it too... it's like they're just losing their grip on things. 
. I'm not sure what the future holds for them, but I do know that they need to get their act together ASAP 
first halima begum gets kicked out and now a trustee quits cuz of how she was treated 
. we need better leadership at oxfam, for the people who work there and the ppl they're supposed to help 
. But can we not just focus on getting to the bottom of what really went down? It seems like there's been some pretty serious mistakes made and someone needs to take responsibility 
. Dr Singh might be jumping the gun a bit by quitting over this, but I guess you have to do what you think is right, even if it means stepping back from a position of power 
.
gotta make sure that happens, you know? 
. And now one of the trustees is quitting because of the way she was treated - "cruel and inhumane" treatment, can you believe it? 
. And the fact that they didn't give Begum a right of reply when she spoke out is just laughable 
. It's time for a complete overhaul of Oxfam and its governance structure 
.
just had my thoughts on this whole oxfam thing... i mean, who does that to someone? treating a ceo like that is low. gotta wonder what kind of org we're supposed to be supporting when we're doing stuff like this behind the scenes. it's all about accountability now, right? need to get some serious changes in place before things get any worse. can't trust a bunch of ppl who aren't willing to listen and have a fair go...
I'm not surprised to see another trustee quitting, it's like they're all jumping ship before things get really ugly. What's going on with this board is a total mess! They can't even treat their CEO fairly. It's all about who's got the power and who's not. And now, the Charity Commission is stepping in to sort out the chaos. hopefully, someone will come in and clean up the place... 
still not sure why they didn't take action sooner though, seems like they knew something fishy was goin on 
.