Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban1turin090208.html
UNITED NATIONS, September 2 -- Ban Ki-moon, one third of the way through his five year term as Secretary General, is lamenting that nobody is following his leadership. In a speech to senior UN official in Turin on August 29, Ban lamented, "I tried to lead by example. Nobody followed." And so he tried to make clear he is in charge: "When we work for the UN -- when you work for me -- please leave your ego at the door."
But listeners have highlighted to Inner City Press a contradiction in Ban's speech. Ban said, "in choosing my senior advisers, I have always cared less about a person's intellectual attainments than his or her ability to work well with others." Meanwhile he complains that UN officials are not obeying, or working with, him and his senior advisers. How can an advisor be said to "work well with others" if the others don't agree? Is a person a leader if "nobody follows"?
While speaking in favor of "One UN" and against turf wars, Ban allowed UN Development Program Administrator Kemal Dervis to rebuff the UN Ethics Office, which had preliminarily found retaliation by UNDP. Dervis instead was allowed to create his own, friendly ethics office. Can one lament turf wars when one allows this fragmentation and duplication of resources?
Another example is Ban's lack of follow-up on his suggestion that senior officials make at least basic public financial disclosure. Several officials simply checked a box, "I choose not to disclose." And when the UN's top lawyer Nicolas Michel purported to disclose, but did not list the $10,000 a month he was taking from the Swiss government for his housing, nothing was done. So much for zero tolerance.
Most recently, the head lawyer of the UN Mission in Kosovo admitted lobbying for recognition of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence while working for the UN. Again, nothing has been done. So much for impartiality.
When documents were leaked showing that a senior UN official, Jane Holl Lute, had pushed to steer a no-bid $250 million contract to US-based military contractor Lockheed Martin for peacekeeping camps in Darfur, against the advice of the Controller and of the Headquarters Committee on Contract, nothing was done, except that Ban expressed exasperation at being asked questions about the contract. Attempts to find the source of the leaks were made. While the previous head of UN Management had promised a UN Freedom of Information Act, no steps in this directly have been made.
Ban also focused on so-called mobility, decrying that 790 of 900 surveyed UN staff had been in their position for five years or more. But Ban has yet to do anything about the inability of so-called G or General staff to move in to the professional ranks. And officials expected to leave have been kept on in other positions, for example the Lockheed contract pusher in a Peacebuilding role. Or the disgraced Millennium Campaign director Eveline Herfkens, who took $280,000 from the Dutch government while ostensibly serving only the UN, now recycled at a $1 a year "advisor" -- in line for up to $100,000 in "Daily Subsistence Allowance." Click here for Inner City Press' story on this.
In terms of openness to the press, Ban is lagging behind his predecessor Kofi Annan. Annan held a number of sit-down press conferences, taking 20 or more questions including on such topics as housing subsidies. Ban on the contrary has recently done a brief series of by invitation only press lunches, insisting these be "off the record." Ban rarely does press conferences, and his Spokesperson carefully chooses who is allowed to ask questions. As reported, those holding the microphone boom at the Security Council stakeout have been told not to allow particular investigative journalists to ask questions. This is leadership? Perhaps those Ban has selected believe in teamwork in such a way they believe their job is to insulate Ban from the press, and try to silence those who question.
When Ban's Office of the Spokesperson was asked for clarifications of Ban's August 29 speech, they said since it hadn't been publicly released, all questions should be to the director of the Office of Communications. Is this office working well with others?
And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban1turin090208.html
