UNITED NATIONS, May 19 -- In what has been described as a UN staff rebellion, the Staff Union on May 16 served a two-page complaint on the Ban Ki-moon administration, specifically criticizing his outgoing and incoming chiefs of Management. What was Management's response? According to the Union's Second Vice President Richard Dellar, outgoing chief Alicia Barcena called him on Monday and said, "This is a declaration of war."
In fairness, Inner City Press offered Ms. Barcena the opportunity for over eight hours to deny the quote or explain it. She did neither. Request for an update on her accountability and freedom of information proposals likewise went unanswered. The interpretations of the reported "war" comment include her perhaps working on a pro-management slate for the Union, just as she came to a meeting one time and spoke, she said, as a staff member.
Her successor, Angela Kane, was asked to comment on the critical letter, to state her position on no-bid contracts and on a Freedom of Information policy for the UN, and to come and briefing the press corps. She did not respond to the first three of these requests. If and when a briefing is held, we'll report on all her answers.
Inner City Press was asked, by one who took part in Kane's selection, to "write positively" about her. If no answers are given, this becomes more difficult. On that front all we can say for now is that her getting the top Management post is being spun as the triumph of "mobility," the UN term for staffers moving from one job to another, especially leaving headquarters for the field. To be deputy chief of a UN mission, even in Eritrea, is not the mobility that is accessible to most staff. But Ms. Kane moved around, from the library through Conference Services and the Eritrea mission, to Political Affairs and now this. It's time to do a briefing, and lay out a plan for the future.
For now we note that the Staff Union on Monday added to its web site a cartoon, of Ban Ki-moon as a music conductor with headphones on. The caption is "i-Ban for non-listeners." There seems little point for now to seek comment on the cartoon, if neither Ms. Barcena nor Ms. Kane deigned to comment on the more detailed letter, and other questions aren't be answered. And so it goes, in the House of Diplomacy.
And see, www.innercitypress.com/dm1war051908.html
