In
DRC,
Scandal of
Meece's Mills
Widens, Cement
Scapegoat,
Goma PIO
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 23 -- As
fighting rages
again in the
Walikale zone
of
Eastern Congo,
where the UN
stood by while
mass rapes
occurred and
envoy Roger
Meece's
ill-conceived
"Meece's
Mills" project
exposed by
Inner City
Press remains
unrealized,
the UN's
response has
been to blame
Meece's
failure on the
unavailability
or high cost
of
cement. Click
here for UN
response last
week.
But
Inner City
Press' sources
say that this
response is
false. The
plan, some
sort
of reparation
to the victims
of the mass
rape UN
Peacekeepers
of the
MONUSCO
mission did
nothing to
stop, involved
building five
gas-powered
grain grinding
mills.
Once Inner
City Press reported it
had failed,
and Meece was
often out of
the country,
the UN said it
could not
build the
cement
buildings
planned in
order to
protect the
mills (as the
UN had NOT
protected the
women of
Walikale.)
But
here is a
rebuttal, that
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's UN
and envoy
Meece and
DPKO should
have to
answer, point
by point
(while they
have still not
answered on
DPKO's use of
private
military
contractors
beyond
MONUSCO) --
1.The
'cement'
story as the
alleged main
reason for
delaying
endlessly the
implementation
of the 'quick'
implementation
is baseless,
false and
contrary to
the approved
financial
documentation
for this QIPs
project. The
cement was
never
considered and
approved as
the building
material for
the Mills
shelters
because for of
its excessive
costs,
unavailability
in Walikale
area and
simply as
unpractical.
The five
shelters to
shelter five
mills were
approved by
the LPRC to be
constructed
from wood and
local
materials and
constructed by
the
local
tradesman,
artisans and
workers from
Walikale area.
The QIP
project was
approved by
the meeting of
the Local
Project Review
Committee
(LPRC), the
Committee that
approves Quick
Implementation
Projects in
Goma in April
2011 with a
maximum
statuary limit
of $25
000 and
implementation
deadline 3
months
starting from
March 2011. It
is amazing
that the Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson's
/ MONUSCO's
response
does not
mention this
crucial LPRC
meeting
although they
refer to the
earlier
meeting in
February that
was dealing
only with the
partial
cost. The
total cost of
the project as
approved by
the LPRC in
April
was as
follows:
Five
Chinese
mills costing
each $ 3,000 =
$15,000. Five
wooden
construction
shelters
costing $2,000
each =
$10,000. The
total cost
approved by
LPRC = $25,000
that is a
maximum
allowable for
QIPs
projects. Note
to
investigators
/ prosecutors:
the
original copy
of approved
Minutes of the
April’s LPRC
are with the
QIPs Unit in
SRSG Meece’s
office in
Kinshasa.
The
wooden
shelters each
costing $2,000
was designed
by the
Congolese
MONUSCO
engineers who
knew the
realities and
the local
conditions in
the Walikale
area, and were
approved with
the detailed
cost
breakdown for
the labor and
material
(wood, sand
etc) costs by
LPRC
in Goma in
April 2011 and
everything is
on the record
in the QIPs
Unit directly
under the SRSG
in Kinshasa.
The LPRC knew
that the cost
of
construction
the simple
shelters from
the cement
that is
unavailable in
Walikale and
too expensive
otherwise is
not
acceptable.
Why
build concrete
bunkers in the
middle of the
jungle at a
per unit cost
that could not
be accepted by
any reasonable
organization?
Even
$2,000 for one
wooden shelter
is an enormous
amount of
money that
could be used
for a
construction
of the house
in Walikale
area for
but LPRC
considered
this as a form
of assistance
to the local
workers.
Unless SRSG
Meece decided
to pay from
his own pocket
and
import the
Chinese cement
and workers to
Walikale? But
apparently
there is no
record of
this, at least
to our best
knowledge..
2.
The
organization 'Coordination
Locale des
Actions
Feminines pour
le
Developpment'
or CLAFED is
an
organization
essentially
controlled by
MONUSCO and
was supposed
only to assist
MONUSCO in
constructing
the wooden
shelters and
spend $ 10,000
for these
purposes and
only after
MONUSCO
undertook to
deliver the
MONUSCO
purchased
Chinese
imported mills
(which
in itself is
breach of
UN Procurement
rules etc as
no competive
bids were
considered)
to the
villages that
unfortunately
never happened
even as they
waited
more than one
year.
In
the
end as the
result of the
lack of the
interest and
support from
the SRSG who
did not
allocate
sufficient
human
resources and
was not
interested in
supervising or
overseeing the
implementation
of this
project that
was used only
a propaganda
stunt that
went terribly
wrong due to
pervasive
sleaze,
corruption and
incompetence.
The local
Auditors Team
is perceived
to be too cozy
with the
Mission
leadership
to ensure
proper
investigation.
Somebody
should be held
accountable
for this
scandal and I
think it
warrants an
urgent the
investigation,
by Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services at UN
Headquarters
if it has
any
credibility,
and certainly
by others as
well.
We
will be
following up
on this. Local
sources point,
below Meece
and those
already named,
to the Goma
PIO "who
bought
inferior
equipment
and pocketed
the difference
and is still
making money
from the
deal."
In
New York as
noted, DPKO
under Herve
"The Drone"
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row atop UN
Peacekeeping,
has refused to
follow
through and
provide any
information
about the UN's
use of private
military
contractors
beyond MONUSCO
(regarding
which it only
partially
answered,
despite claims
to the
contrary by
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky.)
Additionally,
Ladsous
interest in
acquiring
drones, first
exposed by
Inner City
Press, is now
viewed in
light of a
company
wanting to
sell them to
the UN: the
French firm
Thales. Watch
this site.
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