Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un38herfkens022508.html
UNITED NATIONS, February 25 -- In the wake of the UN Development Program's poverty czar Eveline Herfkens having been found to have accepted $7000 a month in rent from the Dutch government for years, in violation of UN rules, UNDP has continued to defend her. As Inner City Press reported, UNDP's Associate Administrator Ad Melkert has lobbied for Herfkens to not have to pay back the housing subsidy, on the theory that she did not know the rules. On Monday, UNDP placed online her contract, to claim that despite the housing subsidy windfall, her annual salary from 2002 to 2006 was $134,331 -- or, the contract says, 80% of that. Click here for the contract. There are two problem. In a January 9 online posting, UNDP said Herfkens was working 75% at the time. And while Herfkens claims ignorance of the rules as a defense, the contract says that the rules have been provided, and even talks about offset for UNDP housing allowance.
UNDP's online posting of Herfkens contract contradicts its crackdowns on whistle-blowing staff members and contractors. Apparently it is not the type of document made public that constitutes a problem, but rather who makes it public and why. If to expose corruption, it is a firing offense. But if to defend a politically-connected get-over, disclosure of contracts is fine. Melkert was to be found on Monday singing the praise of corporation, specifying UNDP's partnership with Cisco and Google, click here for video. Partnership with Google, indeed.
While UNDP issues defenses of Herfkens and Melkert, it leaves other questions unanswered. On Monday Inner City Press asked UNDP fewer than ten questions, none of which were answered by day's end. One of the questions was a matter Inner City Press has already written about, questioning the basis for the Africa business development for military contractor Lockheed Martin being on the board of directors of the US Committee for UNDP, and what safeguards are in place to make sure that no apparent conflicts of interest arise from Lockheed Martin's status as a major contractor to the UN, including a recent $250 million no-bid contract in Sudan. There is no answer, no answer at all.
Footnote: while UNDP self-servingly posts online Herfkens' contract, questions to the UN about the contract status of sadly high profile computer technician have been met with a stonewall, a response from the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General that "the United Nations does not disclose information of a personal nature relating to individual employees." UNDP's Hefkens upload puts a lie to that. Now what? Watch this site.
