At
UN Guterres'
Development
Reform Has No
Program Budget
Implication, Spokesman
Runs
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Series
UNITED NATIONS,
May 31 –
Antonio Guterres has held the
position of UN Secretary
General for seventeen months,
amid few accomplished reforms
or political conflicts solved,
and ongoing censorship / restriction
of the Press. On May 31 he
will belatedly take “a few”
questions, on what's called
his reform of the UN
development system.
Inner City Press
on May 30 sought to ask
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric a question in
advance. But Dujarric, who
evicted Inner City Press from
the UN Press Briefing Room as
it pursued the still unresolved
story of UN bribery and keeps
it restricted, ran off. Video
here.
So here is the question: why
even for this reform has
Guterres not prepared the UN's
usual “Program Budget
Implication” statement? How
much will the reform cost? On
May 31, Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric who offered an
evasive answer and then ran
off the podium. From the UN's
sanitized transcript:
Inner City Press: I wanted to
ask you about the development
system reform. In
talking to some people on the
Fifth Committee, they said
that it's strange that there's
no Program Budget Implication,
PBI, filed in connection with
this pretty major
proposal. Like, even for
the envoy on Myanmar, there
had to be a PBI. How can
it be something this big
doesn't have a price tag?
Spokesman: Well, I mean,
I think everything was
negotiated with the Fifth
Committee, and I think they
got all the documents they
needed." And then he ran off.
We'll have more on this.
The
reform, such as it is, is to
move authority for the UN's
resident coordinator system
from the UN Development
Program over to Guterres'
deputy secretary general Amina
J. Mohammed. Guterres had
wanted to get regular assessed
budget funding for this, but
he lost in that attempt. An
undefined “hybrid” funding
system is yet to be specified,
despite a rubber stamp vote
being calle on the reform on
May 31. How will it be paid
for? It is undisclosed, just
like Guterres' visit to his
home in Portugal on May 28 was
undisclosed until Inner City
Press asked.
According to what
senior Fifth (Budget)
Committee sources exclusively
tell Inner City Press,
Guterres claims he can't
estimate the cost or PBI until
he finds out what states will
voluntarily give him. Then how
can this reform be voted on
and be claimed to be
completed, a rare victory for
Guterres? (The sources also
tell Inner City Press that
Guterres made his appointment
of Achim Steiner to replace
Helen Clark as head of UNDP
contingent on Steiner
supporting UNDP's loss of the
resident coordinator system to
Amina Mohammed.) Dujarric did
not want to answer, and if the
past is any guide he will
pre-select the questions to
Guterres from among his
allies. Watch this site.
***
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-303,
UN, NY 10017 USA
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in
the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-2015 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
for
|
,
