At UN, As Pollard Flips to DGACM, Gettu Calls Female Critic “Emotional," Sources Complain to Inner City Press

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, July 31 -- In the UN's ongoing game of musical chairs, on July 31 Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced he is shifting Catherine Pollard from the Office of Human Resources Management over to become Assistant Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM), replacing Franz Baumann of Germany.

  As Inner City Press previously reported, Pollard had declared herself the poster child of Ban's “mobility” policy, to only hold the same post -- or was it duty station? -- for five years. 

   No matter that, for example, Robert Serry has said on television he's been in his post six years. Pollard has made a lateral move, and Baumann's next move is not yet clear.

  What does DGACM do? As a sample, Inner City Press has already exclusively received a number of complaints about a meeting held by DGACM chief Tegegnework Gettu, also on July 31. According to sources, Gettu used the meeting to tell staff how well he is doing, how objective he is, that he has no personal agenda. (Click here for previously Inner City Press report.)

  But when he opened the floor, the first staff member who dared make a suggestion -- that verbatim is now nearly identical to translation -- was cut off and told that his was only a personal opinion.

  A female staffer who made a criticism was told by Gettu to not be “emotional.” Eventually Gettu was telling the assembled staff that the UN “is good” and “if you don't like it, walk away.”

  In fact, it was in DGACM that the staff member elected vice president of the Staff Union in December was terminated -- Gettu says he didn't re-apply for a job so he clearly didn't need one -- and it was in DGACM that staff members were subjected to bed bugs, among other things, in the Albano Building.

  On July 31, the sources exclusively tell Inner City Press that Gettu told DGACM staff that they may remain in the Albano Building on 46th Street until 2017 when, he says, the UN may have a “DC5” building, proposed to be built on the Robert Moses playground south of 42nd Street. Click here for Inner City Press story.

  There are many hardworking staff in DGACM, and even some in management may mean well. 

   But the type of self-serving speechifying at staff described to Inner City Press by sources on July 31 is indicative of the same UN which, for example among the press, evicted the News Agency of Nigeria from its work area claiming a lack of space while giving a large room to its favored UN Censorship Alliance (UNCA) -- which now says it will leave the room empty and locked from August 1 to August 19. We and the new Free UN Coalition for Access will have more on this. We'll have more on this.

   

As UN Confirms ICP Scoop on CMP Overruns, US Mission Only Tweets, Wants Department of Management?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 14, updated -- On Monday a cost overrun in the UN Capital Master Plan of $265 million, up from $79 million, was reported by Inner City Press, along with the analysis that this makes it far less likely that another new UN building, the so-called DC-5 or "Ban's Boondoggle," will be built.

On Tuesday the UN confirmed the increased cost overrun and also the additional "associated costs" of $147 million reported by Inner City Press.

But the spokesman for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, he of the boondoggle, said there was no connection with DC-5, that "is totally unconnected, as you well know, that should anything happen on that front, it is dealt with by an entirely different body — it’s not dealt with by the United Nations itself, and I think you know that."

Inner City Press followed up, with the US and UK Missions to the UN and with Ban's spokesman, Martin Nesirky:

Inner City Press: at least some Member States are saying, although it would be the UN Development Corporation that would actually build DC-5, they are considering now this idea of a contingency plan for the footprint or logistics of the UN. So they see it as connected in this way: if in fact there have been these overruns on repair, what level of confidence do they have? Are you saying that the building of DC-5 could never cost the UN budget money?

Spokesperson: The building, should such a building be constructed, it would be under that Corporation, which is not a UN body, okay?

Many member states' representatives have told Inner City Press they see a connection: once Ban's Secretariat so badly underestimated or understated the costs of the CMP, why gamble more money for a building that may not be necessary (and which, incidentally, would unilaterally destroy a playground)?

A UK spokesman responded to Inner City Press with this: "Fifth Committee is now in session with decisions on the Capital Master Plan needed by the end of next week. We are looking at the detail closely, and are of course concerned at projected cost over-runs."

The US Mission to the UN was twice asked for comment, specifically from its Ambassador for such issues, Joe Torsella. In response, after a day, Inner City Press was directed to Torsella's Tweets on the topic.

These do not address DC-5; notably, many of Torsella's tweets are in fact pro-UN re-tweets, for example about the Lubanga verdict (click here for Inner City Press' story on UN's role with another unindicted child soldier recruiter, Peter Karim), the appointment of a 71-year old Swede to be Ban's deputy, unqualified praise for the "Action Agenda" of Ban Ki-moon, which so far has meant rotating his long time advisers Kim Won-soo and Yoon Yeochol to new but close by jobs, and shifting American Bob Orr to an invented public private partnerships job. Some reform.

On the CMP overruns, Torsella links as "UN101" to a story that undercounted the overrun as 4%.

But perhaps, while not stated in Torsella's Twitter profile, retweets are not endorsements. In fairness we note that while not commenting on DC-5, Torsella has tweeted concerns and questions about the CMP overruns:

"Three questions we have for UN: In papersmart UN, why are we paying between $3.2 - $6.4 million for new filing cabinets?!? Where are old ones? http://goo.gl/wxAyL [This tweeted link didn't work, at least when tried by Inner City Press] 2. Auditors urged desk-sharing -- common in private sector -to save "at least" 10-20% on space costs. Why wasn't that implemented? 3. Big savings were projected from energy efficiency of rehabbed buildings. Now would be a good time to show us that money!"

Notably, the head of the CMP is an American, Michael Adlerstein. Some say the US hopes to take over not only the Department of Political Affairs, but also the Department of Management, perhaps with Patrick Kennedy. The Department of Management oversees the CMP.

So could their be some conflicts of interest, or weakening, in this US Mission's stated commitment to reform the UN? Watch this site.

Amid Complaints of $265M UN Repair Overrun, $147M More, No DC5?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 12 -- With the UN Security Council full of foreign minister on Monday, some expressed surprise at the stage of the Capital Master Plan reconstruction of the UN, and the cost overruns under Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Things are worse than they know.

Last week, CMP Assistant Secretary General Michael Adlerstein belatedly told member states that cost overruns now are $265 million, compared to a previous disclose of less of $80 million, supposedly whittled down through something called value engineering.

But even this $265 million overrun understates the problem, as it does not include so-called "associated costs." According to the document A/66/527/Add.1, "the resources required for associated costs for the period from 2008 to 2013 are estimated to total $146,806,000."

So the actual CMP cost overrun under Ban and Adlerstein is $412 million. Recently there was a push to override local opposition and make plans to build another new UN building, tentatively called DC-5, on the playground to the south of 42nd Street, where currently children play sports, and adults soccer in the afternoon.

Now, sources tell Inner City Press, the idea of the UN building yet another building seems "absurd," with the over $400 million overrun on a mere reconstruction. Watch this site.

Footnote: Inner City Press alluded to this coming disclosure last week, even as a major wire service (mis) reported that the CMP cost overrun was "only" four percent.

Meanwhile the UN has refused to answer Inner City Press' repeated questions about who is getting paid by the UN to accompany Kofi Annan to Syria -- TV images show for example former UN official Alan Doss, who left amid a nepotism scandal in which he asked UNDP to bend or break its rules to give a job to his daughter -- and about the propriety of the return as a UN adviser of another former official, Maurice Strong, who left amid the Oil for Food scandal, and another bout of nepotism.

Mismanagement and corruption may be different things -- but lack of transparency in the use of public money fuels both of them. Watch this site.