By Matthew Russell Lee, Follow Up on Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, October 12 -- With a lack of transparency, increasingly the case in the UN of outgoing Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, doubts only grow.
Last month Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric a series of factual questions about promotions, including in the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management of Under Secretary General Catherine Pollard of Guyana. Dujarric sent one answer, below, then stopped.
On October 12 Inner City Press asked Dujarric about Guyana's new Permanent Representative to the UN Rudolph Michael Ten-Pow saying, through UN Protocol, that “until his latest appointment, Mr. Ten-Pow was the Special Advisor to the United Nations Coordinator for Multilingualism”- that is, an adviser to Pollard.
But does that position even exist? It is nowhere online. It's a Caribbean connection: Those promoted are from Guyana and Suriname. There is also the strange case Frances Fuller, staffer to former PGA John Ashe also of Antigua and Barbuda, rest in peace, now in Ban Ki-moon's office, here.
But Ban's spokesman Dujarric doesn't answer questions. Here was his first Q&A on this:On September 1, Inner City Press asked Dujarric:
Inner City Press understands that the DGACM position vacated yesterday is being filled by Ruth de Miranda, whom numerous UN staff tell Inner City Press is closely aligned with Catherine Pollard... In this light, and in connection with the UNanswered son in law questions, this is a formal request that you state pre-lid
1) if Ms. Pollard recused herself from the selection of Ms. de Miranda;
2) if not, what roles Ms Pollard played, including in the design of the written test, being on the panel, etc
3) how this is acceptable and what rules apply.
Again, as to the SG's son in law, this is a formal request that you today (pre-lid) provide
a) the names and/or other identifiers of the members of the interagency advisory panel which you say selected the SG's son in law (to assess whether they can be considered independent of the SG) and the names of the other candidates (to assess whether the SG's son in law was arguably the most qualified)
or provide an explanation of WHY such information in this situation will not be disclosed.
or provide an explanation of WHY such information in this situation will not be disclosed.
About Ban's son in law Siddharth Chatterjee, Dujarric stopped even pretending to respond. The response has come from Chatterjee's former military commander in Sri Lanka, Dalvir Singh, calling for Inner City Press to be “condemned in the strongest terms.” Very classy.
On de Miranda, Dujarric responded: “ Ruth de Miranda was selected to succeed Ion Botnaru. I think that your answer is correct. The vacancy was filled in full compliance with the staff selection polices of the organization.”
Inner City Press re-asked, “On USG Pollard's role in Ms. de Miranda's selection to the D2 post, you have not described her role nor confirmed or denied their close relation... This is a formal request you answer this today: the position USG Pollard gave to Sonia Elliott, please state if and why it was done as a “Temporary Vacancy” TVA and not as “Acting,” and USG Pollard's role in the process.”
This, like Inner City Press' request for information about Chatterjee's military activities in Sri Lanka, has done unanswered. So too questions about Ban's long time aide Eun Ha (Isabelle) Kim, for whom Inner City Press is informed Pollard is seeking to create a new P-3 position in Protocol, which falls under her DGACM. We'll have more on this.
