By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
UN GATE, Oct 2 – After UN President of the General Assembly John Ashe was indicted for taking bribes from Chinese government businessman Ng Lap Seng, and died before trial, the UN's lone reform was to say that future PGAs would disclose how their office and travel and staff members were funded.
And now, even that insufficient reform is not being complied with. And the Press that asks about ongoing UN corruption is banned.
On September 16 Inner City Press wrote to new PGA Abdulla Shahid's spokesperson Monica Grayley, "state when you will put on the PGA website the financial and staffing information committed to after the indictment of then PGA John Ashe."
It asked for confirmation of receipt, and a copy of the list of speakers for the UNGA High Level Week. Neither was provided, nor any response on what Shahid, Maldives' foreign minister, will do to ensure access to "his" UNGA by the Press which asks these questions.
Instead, with the Press still banned, Shahid on October 1 bragged: "I know you would like this piece of information: the shortest speech (Guinea-Bissau) lasted 5 minutes and the longest intervention (by Papua New Guinea) had a duration of 46 minutes. Another issue that was spoken about at length – and which was sadly on display – was the deeply poor gender representation at the highest levels of our work. Only 18 (9.2%) of the 194 speakers this year were women... Tonight, I will fly to the United Arab Emirates to visit the Dubai EXPO 2020. On 6 October, I will go to the Maldives for an official visit and will end these travels in Belgrade, Serbia, for the Conference on the 60th Anniversary of the First Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement. I will be back in the Office on 13 October." Who is paying for all this? And how can the Press be banned? Corrupt
There is a pending application to the UN Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit, acknowledged (unlike PGA Shahid's Grayley) but not acted on.
On September 17, with the "Team" section of PGA Shahid's website still empty, Inner City Press wrote to two other staffers in the PGA's office, Carl Mercer Lead, Communications, Advocacy & Speechwriting and Ahmed Salman Zaki, Executive Assistant to the PGA. Watch this site.
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