UNITED NATIONS GATE, March 11 – At the UN with Antonio Guterres 27 months into his term as Secretary General, there's talk of reform but little transparency. Now that Guterres has changed his failed proposal to move UN jobs out of New York, Uganda and Geneva - now proposing the jobs go to, where else, Shenzhen in China, while Guterres covers up for convicted UN briber China Energy Fund Committee. Inner City Press, which was roughed up and banned from the UN by Guterres amid its questions about his CEFC links, has obtained an advance copy of the UN Advisory Committee on Administration and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) review of Guterres' changes; a close observer summarizes that China to the side bought off Uganda to drop or mitigate its opposition to losing so many jobs.
Meanwhile even the ACABQ has problems with putting the French language, FrancAfrique serving center in Montreal, many time zones away. From the advance ACABQ, which Inner City Press is exclusively putting online in full: Upon enquiry, the Advisory Committee was informed that since the inception of RSCE, approximately $7.71 million has been invested in RSCE office space, in addition to $9.77 million invested in training and technology facilities which are not related to the scope of the global service delivery model. The Advisory Committee expects the Secretary-General to provide further information to the General Assembly, at the time of its consideration of this report, on the investments made in RSCE. Considering the significant number of proposed abolishments, the investments made in RSCE to date, the request of the General Assembly in resolution 72/266 B, and its key regional role, the Advisory Committee trusts that the Secretary-General will ensure the optimal use of RSCE’s capacity and the implementation of mitigation measures for its affected staff. The Committee recommends that the General Assembly request the Secretary-General to provide more information on this matter." Then again, Guterres might just get China to buy off or strong-arm those who have questions, for the jobs and Organization he is giving them while concealing his own financial links with CEFC China Energy.
About Uganda, from the March 8 report: "Upon enquiry, the Advisory Committee was informed that since the inception of RSCE, approximately $7.71 million has been invested in RSCE office space, in addition to $9.77 million invested in training and technology facilities which are not related to the scope of the global service delivery model. The Advisory Committee expects the Secretary-General to provide further information to the General Assembly, at the time of its consideration of this report, on the investments made in RSCE. Considering the significant number of proposed abolishments, the investments made in RSCE to date, the request of the General Assembly in resolution 72/266 B, and its key regional role, the Advisory Committee trusts that the Secretary-General will ensure the optimal use of RSCE’s capacity and the implementation of mitigation measures for its affected staff. The Committee recommends that the General Assembly request the Secretary-General to provide more information on this matter." Waste of money, to serve China. Guterres also proposing to move jobs to Montreal in Canada, a tip of his cap to Francophonie, and again to Nairobi from Uganda. Inner City Press which has reported exclusively on Guterres' bogus reforms from the beginning, and has for its troubled been roughed up by his Security and banned from entering the UN now for 202 days and counting, will have more on each of these proposals. Significantly, the "Not for distribution" document banned Inner City Press has obtained shows that Guterres aims to cut fully 349 UN jobs in Uganda. We have put in written questions to Guterres and his spokesmen Stephane Dujarric and Farhan Haq, who have not answered this: "January 22-1: On the SG's new Global Service Delivery Mechanism proposal, please immediately state how and why the SG chose China - including in light of the CEFC China Energy UN bribery and Gulbenkian Foundation issues you have refused to answer Inner City Press on - and how Montreal was selected, and how many post Uganda would lose." Seven hours later, no answer. But Inner City Press has the document: 349 jobs to be cut in Entebbe, under Guterres' plan. And now Uganda's Sam Kutesa, implicated in Patrick Ho's bribery for CEFC China Energy, linked to Guterres, is complaining about Guterres and an unnamed consultant, urging Uganda's Parliament to support a second fight. Even banned from entering the UN by Guterres as we cover the bribery, we will cover this. On January 22 the spokesperson for UN PGA Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, Monica Grayley, said that Espinosa's predecessor Sam Kutesa the foreign minister of Uganda who took $500,000 to China Energy Fund Committee will NOT be coming to an event for former PGAs in New York - she didn't say why. We'll have more on this. Here's about Shenzhen - in connection with which, consider Guterres omission of his paid board membership on Gulbenkian Foundation which tried to sell its Partex Oil company to CEFC even after the indictment of its Patrick Ho for UN bribery: "The proposed Global Shared Service Centre in Shenzhen will consist of the Office of the Chief, as well as the Finance Section, headed by a P-5 Section Chief, and the Client Support Unit, headed by a P-4 Unit Chief, who would report to the Chief of the Global Shared Service Centre in Shenzhen. The service centre will also manage a local client support desk staffed by three General Service (Local Level) in Bangkok to provide local client support services. The local client support desk positions will be funded by general temporary assistance for a period of up to two years after implementation. 61. The proposed “Chief of Global Shared Service Centre in Shenzhen” at the D-1 level will report to the Director, Global Shared Services and would be fully accountable for the service quality and operational performance of the Global Shared Service Centre in Shenzhen, including the implementation of the performance management framework at section and individual staff levels. He or she would be responsible for the following: • Implementing the business plan of the Global Shared Service Centre in Shenzhen, whose primary objective is to efficiently and effectively provide administrative transactional services in the areas of financial transactional services; • Planning, managing and overseeing the activities of all administrative and operational components of the service centre; leading and managing the operations of the office of 195 staff (173 posts + 22 GTA positions); • Ensuring effective service delivery and achieving the operational targets and key performance indicators; • Developing and implementing quality control mechanisms in place to improve the quality and timeliness of services; 18 [A/73/706] • Cultivating a culture of client orientation and service delivery by ensuring responsiveness of service centre staff to client queries, systematically evaluating client satisfaction and making adjustments as necessary; • Leading the implementation of change management initiatives focused on process improvements, increased automation and optimization of systems and tools; • Leading the implementation of a communications strategy that provides information to all service centre’s stakeholders through open and frequent communication channels; • Leading the implementation of future service expansions in this service centre location, including expansion of client base, implementation of new services, recruitment for new service sections or units, and upgrade of office facilities and ICT infrastructure as necessary; and • Liaising with the host country as necessary and appropriate on all matters pertaining to the host country agreement. 62. The proposed P-5 post would be section chief of the Finance Section with a number of 164 staff (148 posts + 16 GTA), responsible for leading and overseeing the operations of the section, managing staff performance and resources, and coordinating activities and reports related to budget and staffing. The Finance Section consists of the Accounts Payable Unit (140 staff) and the Special Global Operations Unit (23 staff), which will initially include processes related to bank reconciliation and calculation of travel and shipping lump-sum payments. 63. The seven proposed posts at the P-4 level include the following: • One post would be unit chief of the Client Support Unit (19 staff in the centre + 3 staff in the local client support desk in Bangkok), responsible for the management and operations of the unit to ensure standardized and efficient client support. • One post would be Administrative Officer in the Office of the Chief, responsible for the overall coordination of human resources management, budget preparation and financial management (including funding and cost recovery) for the service centre. • Four posts would be Finance Officers in the Accounts Payable Unit of the Finance Section, responsible for overseeing service delivery and assist the section chief in managing staff performance in the unit. • One post would be Finance Officer in the Special Global Operations Unit, responsible for overseeing service delivery and assist the section chief in managing staff performance in the unit. 64. The ten proposed posts at the P-3 level would include the following: • One Human Resources Officer, a Finance Officer and an Information Systems Officer located in the Office of the Chief, responsible for assisting in the coordination of human resources management, budget preparation, financial management and information technology support for the service centre. • Six Finance Officers assisting the P-4 Finance Officer in overseeing service delivery in the Accounts Payable Unit and the Special Global Operations Unit of the Finance Section. • One Administrative Officer assisting the Chief of the Client Support Unit in overseeing the daily operations of the unit. 65. The proposed P-2 post would be Associate Finance Officer in the Accounts Payable Unit of the Finance Section to assist in ensuring the delivery of transactional services. 66. The proposed fifteen General Service (Principal Level) posts would be responsible for assisting the professional officers in the supervision of larger teams of General Service (Local Level) staff in the 19 [A/73/706] Finance Section (13 PL) and the Client Support Unit (2 PL), as well as carrying out more complex transactions. The 138 General Service (Local level) posts would be responsible for carrying out administrative transactional services in the Finance Section (122 OL), as well as providing client support services in the Client Support Unit (13 OL) and administrative support in the Office of the Chief (3 OL)." On 1 July 2018 there was a claim that the peacekeeping budgets tied to the supposed reforms had been "approved," with no open meeting of the Budget Committee and with Inner City Press which covers it still banned from entering the building on the weekends or evenings when the Committee had consultations, having been ousted June 22 by Guterres' gun-toting guards who refused to give their names. Video here, story here, new petition here.
