Amid
UN Budget
Crunch,
Unanswered
Qs of Buyouts,
Coverups &
Recruitments
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 23 --
With the UN
budget fight
going into its
last
two days, the
head of the
UN's Office of
Human
Resources
Management
(OHRM)
Catherine
Pollard has
been sighted
multiple times
by Inner
City Press
outside of the
closed door
negotiations
in North Lawn
Conference
Room 5.
But
a number of
human
resources
question that
Inner City
Press posed
nine
days ago to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's top
three
spokesman
remain
unanswered.
And so here
are the
questions
themselves:
Dec14-4
Please
confirm or
deny that the
director of
OIOS stopped
an
investigation
of UMOJA,
including of
the role of
the former
Under
Secretary
General for
Management,
and on what
basis.
Dec14-3
What
is the
contractual
status of Joan
McDonald,
retiree now
acting
as procurement
official for
UMOJA? How was
she recruited,
and how
does this
comport with
the Secretary
General's
stated reforms
on
recruitment?
Dec14-2
Please
respond to
allegation
that some
people who are
retiring are
nevertheless
given buyout
packages of up
to 18 months,
and coached on
how to write
the "properly
worded" memo,
including
[three
names redacted
in this
format, but]
see e-mail
below.
On
this last,
reflecting the
state of this
UN, Inner City
Press has been
shown e-mail
directed to UN
official
Robert Orr
stating
"With
regard to our
discussions on
the buy-out
package, I
think that
Adnan
would be the
best person to
approach...
buy-out
packages get
approved
easily when
the
originating
department
i.e. EOSG and
its Executive
Office write
to OHRM /
Management
endorsing the
arrangement...
Bob, I'd keep
on praying or
otherwise I
might have to
write some
tawdry book
about the UN.
And
believe me
I've got
plenty, plenty
materials."
Was
this a joke or
a threat?
According to
the e-mails
shown to Inner
City Press,
Orr wrote
back, "I've
tried Adnan,
but will try
him again when
I get back.
Again, I'm
sorry for the
delay, but
just wanted
you to know I
haven't
forgotten. I
did make
inquiries and
got nothing of
value back."
But
then value,
and more, was
given out.
It's a
question of
favoritism,
as with the
UMOJA
procurement
officer who
was involved
in a previous
UN procurement
scandal. This
is how the UN
works,
including not
answering
questions.
Inner
City Press
reported on
Friday morning
that on a $8.7
million budget
proposal to
"implement
Rio+20," on
Thursday the
European
Union and
Japan proposed
to cut that
budget to
zero. This
gave rise
to howls among
the Group of
77 and China,
and
accusations
that the EU
and Japan are
hypocrites on
sustainable
development
and the
environment.
Inner
City Press
went to
Friday's noon
briefing and
asked, "given
how
important
sustainable
development is
to the
Secretary-General
and his
statements,
it’s been
proposed by
Japan and the
European Union
to
cut funding
for the
implementation
of Rio+20 to
zero. This was
a
proposal made
by the two, by
Japan and the
EU, yesterday
and it seems
to me… what
is… does the
Secretariat
think about no
implementation
of Rio+20?"
Deputy
Spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey: Well,
Matthew, I am
not going to
get
into a budget
discussion
until we find
out what the
General
Assembly
decides.
Inner
City Press:
But can you
say that there
will be a
Secretariat
statement on
the budget
when it comes
up?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
If the
Secretariat
believes that
the… that a
statement is
warranted, one
may be issued,
but I can’t
promise you
anything on
that.
Now
we can report
that they also
proposed that,
not to be
"absorbed"
like Rio+20,
the budget
should
including
$40,000 for a
consultant on
the arms trade
treaty. More
screams of
hypocrisy. And
so it goes at
the UN.
As
of Saturday
night,
re-costing and
the
performance
review report
remained in
contention.
The three
unanswered
questions
above were
submitted on
December 14 less
than two hours
after Ban's
lead
spokesman
refused to
answer
Inner City
Press'
question, on
behalf of
the Free UN
Coalition for
Access, about
the United
Nations
Correspondents
Association
violating its
Constitution.
Nesirky,
despite
the UN's
partnership,
refused to
answer on
this, saying, "I
don’t
think that you
could ever
accuse me or
my Office of
not providing
you
with access
and providing
you with
answers...
I will
simply not be
involved in
your
difficulties,
meaning
between the
United Nations
Correspondents
Association
and yourself
or others."
We now
have more on
this, how the
UNCA regime
tries to
handpick its
successors
while the UN
is allowed to
not answer
questions,
even to try to
seize the
microphone to
avoid the
questions
being asked, video here. Watch this site.
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