UNITED NATIONS, April 13 -- While the UN's Ban Ki-moon traveled to Central Asia, Austria and now DC, there are troubles on the home front. The UN's own Dispute Tribunal has issued a series of orders calling for disclosure of reports to whistleblower, and for senior officials like Shaaban Shaaban to be held accountable for mismanagement. Mr. Ban's response has been to appeal, appeal, appeal.
The UN Staff Union, which the Ban administration had tried to divide and conquer, was recently denied in its request for space to hold a meeting. First they were told that space was available, then from higher up via one Tony Di Lanzo that it was not: "I am sorry to inform you that your meeting has been moved... a large number of requests have been received for large room [sic] on this day." But a check of the UN's e-Meets site showed that the space was empty. We will have more on this.
While he was in Austria, Ban held a town hall meeting. He was told by Preeta Bannerjee, who took the for-now defunct G-to-P test in 1994, of low staff morale in UNODC. But what did he do?
Meanwhile, the UN's investigation into pre-predicted promotions in the Department of Safety and Security, exposed by Inner City Press, has resulted sources say in a whitewash.
While some say this was out of empathy for Headquarters security chief Bruno Henn, others say Henn -- who already tried unsuccessfully to move laterally to the Capital Master Plan -- is set to transfer to Nairobi, into a post opened by another scandal.
The discontent sinks all the way down to those who cannot sit. The elevator operators left in the UN building, who used to sit when there were no customers, have now been ordered to stand. They complain of discrimination against Latinos. And if it was, what would happen?
