Amid UN80 Set Aside Jobs in UN South South Unit Used by Ashe and Ng No Waltz MUNGA

Amid UN80 Set Aside Jobs in UN South South Unit Used by Ashe and Ng No Waltz MUNGA by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack UN GATE, March 25– How corrupt is today's UN under Antonio Guterres? His staff tell Inner City Press things have hit a new low about which his spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Melissa Fleming refuse all Press questions. On the morning of March 25, 2026 Inner City Press sent this to two dozen in the UN and USUN: Dear Matthew Lee  As the UNDP Office of Audit and Investigation is controlled by management and there is continued rampant corruption and nepotism in UNOSSC, added to the Administrator has refused to take real action on issues raised with him we seek your support in bringing the below complaints that we raised since December 2025 with no real response to the attention of your readers. Dear Administrator De Croo,  We are writing collectively and in confidence to bring to your attention a series of recent developments within the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), hosted by UNDP, that raise serious concerns regarding fairness, transparency, and potential conflicts of interest in staffing and leadership decisions taken under the current management.  On the day preceding Thanksgiving, nine UNOSSC staff members were informed that their posts would be abolished effective March 2026. This notification occurred without an open, transparent or completed functional review and without prior consultation.  Staff were shown a revised organigram and advised that their positions no longer appeared in the new structure.   At the same time, the revised organigram introduced a new D-1 position described as supporting the G77 Chair. During the meeting, it was clearly indicated that this position was intended for Samba Thiam. It was further explained that there would be no competitive process for positions in the new structure, and that placement would instead be based on matching staff members’ current terms of reference to the new posts.  This approach has caused deep concern among staff. Several of those whose posts are being abolished possess substantial and directly relevant experience, including with G77+China, yet were informed that broader professional experience would not be considered. The reliance solely on current terms of reference effectively precludes meaningful competition and has created the strong perception that the outcome is predetermined.   These concerns are compounded by Samba Thiam’s professional trajectory and personal connections. Samba Thiam is a long-standing associate of Michele Candotti dating back to their time at UNEP. Staff are well aware that Michele Candotti previously placed Samba Thiam in a D-1 role within the UNDP Executive Office without a proper competitive process, and subsequently facilitated his placement in UNOSSC, again without an open process. Staff are also aware that, despite repeated failures, the organization has repeatedly funded Samba Thiam’s participation in the Resident Representative (RR) assessment process on two occasions, including the provision of external coaching at the organization's expense prior to his second attempt, which he also failed.  Against the backdrop of widespread post abolitions and staff reductions at multiple levels, these repeated investments in a single individual without demonstrable success and without equivalent opportunities being extended to other qualified staff are profoundly demoralizing.   Staff further perceive a recurring pattern in which networks originating from prior UNEP affiliations continue to influence senior staffing decisions across the organization, including in UNOSSC, to the detriment of transparency, morale, and institutional credibility.  Additional concerns relate to interim leadership arrangements within UNOSSC. During the month of December when the UNOSSC Director has been absent, Dima Al-Khatib has designated Fiona Bayat-Renoux, a UNDP official external to UNOSSC, to act as her backup and Officer-in-Charge, rather than appointing a senior UNOSSC staff member. This decision has been perceived as highly irregular and ethically problematic, particularly given the widely known intimate relationship between Fiona Bayat-Renoux and Michele Candotti and their own professional connections dating back to UNEP. For UNOSSC staff, this has reinforced the perception that personal and prior organizational relationships are being prioritized over institutional integrity and internal succession.  When these issues were raised with senior leadership, staff were discouraged to hear the same justifications repeated without acknowledgement of the governance, ethical, and morale implications involved. This has further undermined confidence that appropriate checks and balances are being applied. Staff were further alarmed by a statement made during a meeting attended by OHR, in which it was indicated that management was aware that some staff had approached the Ombudsman. Regardless of intent, this statement caused significant distress. The Ombudsman system is widely understood to be strictly confidential, and the suggestion that management is aware of who has sought recourse to it has created fear of exposure and potential retaliation. This has had a chilling effect on staff confidence in internal safeguards and has further eroded trust in the integrity of established protection mechanisms.  We wish to stress that staff understand the financial pressures facing the organization and accept that difficult restructuring decisions is required. Many have indicated that, had an open and transparent functional review been conducted, even painful outcomes might have been understood. Instead, the manner in which these decisions have been taken combined with what is perceived as a series of last-minute staffing maneuvers prior to the departure of the outgoing UNDP Chief of Staff has left staff feeling exposed, sidelined, and deeply discouraged.   Yours sincerely  UNOSSC Staff And this is about inequitable cuts at UN ESCAP in Thailand: Dear Matthew Russell Lee,  The plan for abolishment from UN-ESCAP  is directed only at GS staff, while senior positions—P-5, D-1, D-2, and USG—remain untouched. The salary of a single one of these officials is equivalent to that of fifty or more local staff members. If justice truly mattered, it would be these high-level posts under review—not the livelihoods of ordinary staff. Many of these officials are beyond retirement age, largely inactive in their offices, while their administrative assistants act more like personal aides or cooks than contributors to the Organization’s actual work.  This is not about fairness—it is about selfishness and corruption. Guterres and his team have revealed themselves as weak, wicked, and corrupt. They cling to their privileges while sacrificing the most vulnerable staff, simply because they hold the power to decide.  It is therefore no surprise that more and more staff are coming to agree that the UN has become useless, especially under the failed leadership of Guterres.  Guterres appears increasingly surrounded by what staff describe as “phone-call human resource advisors and legal officers.”    Martha Helena Lopez, the Secretary-General’s senior advisor on human resources, has become emblematic of this “don’t care” policy. Observers note she looks fatigued, more focused on retirement than on strengthening governance. Rather than engaging with tribunal rulings, she and her team have defaulted to what staff now mockingly call “phone-call directives,” issuing guidance over the phone without regard to established precedent or proper review.  In New York, staff have started referring to her and her legal colleagues as “phone-call officers and advisors” because of their casual approach to matters of grave consequence. Their advice to the Secretary-General effectively shields misconduct from judicial scrutiny, entrenches his culture of impunity.  Guterres, they say, should end censorship. Application was made on June 19, 2025. Watch this site. *** Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron. 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