In
Africa, UN Development Program Is a "Disaster," and Security Delayed Two
Years, Documents Show
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, March 12 -- While promising
much in Africa, the performance of the UN, at least of the UN
Development Program, leaves much to be desired, according to the African
Development Bank's internal review of the last two years, obtained by
Inner City Press. A "Matrix of Ongoing Activities" presented to UNDP in
connection with a March 10 meeting between AfDB President Donald
Kaberuka and UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis, issues negative
evaluations of UNDP's follow-up on commitments it made. For an
ECOWAS-PADEP project, "UNDP has not delivered on its obligations," the
report notes. To a project on statistics of poverty, to build capacity,
"UNDP did not contribute materially to the program, nothing concrete
materialized."
A Tsetse Fly Eradication Program, "UNDP decided not to join." The
verdict of "not implemented" is rendered on HIV / AIDS projects in South
Africa, a Lake Tanganyika bio-diversity project, and a project for "UNDP
to provide the Bank with a roster of credible NGOs," among others.
Beyond the report, AfDB president Kaberuka said that UNDP had failed to
execute a project in Sierra Leone and it "had been a disaster." UNDP had
said it would be involved in, but reneged on, private sector profiles in
Egypt, Mali, South Africa, Mozambique and Algeria.
Perhaps most troubling, despite
the African Development Bank two years ago asking UNDP to arrange for UN
Department of Safety & Security coverage for its staff, a global
memorandum of understanding "was never concluded," and therefore even
local safety agreements by UNDP, requested by AfDB, are not granted.
![](undp1a3.jpg)
UNDP's Dervis, AfDB's
Kaberuka, unimplemented projects not shown
UNDP was
not
represented at the Africa MDGs press conference on Monday; beyond
the proclivity of Administrator Dervis and now Associate Administrator
Melkert to avoid questions from the press, the weaknesses in UNDP's
performance in Africa, described in the reports as "falling short of
expectations," may explain UNDP's absence. The negative grades given in
the internal report may also explain UNDP's refusal to provide copies of
its audits even to its donors and member states on its Executive Board.
The more than two year delay in responding to a simple request for
security assistance from the African Development Bank, however, is a
matter that can no longer be concealed.
Footnote: while UNDP has yet to respond to
numerous factual questions put to it weeks ago, on March 11 the
following arrived, on UNDP's role in Kofi Annan's Kenya mediation
When
this mediation started, the Serena Hotel was the only option available
for security reasons. A competitive process was not used as this
location was the only viable option.
Kofi
Annan’s suite cost USD$600 per day. Kofi Annan was not paid for his
mediation effort in Kenya and has a $1 per year contract with the UN.
International travel was organized through the UN using our existing
competitive arrangements. In a few cases, travel was organized by the
Kofi Annan Foundation and a comparison to what the cost would have been
if organized through the UN was done and documented.
A
competitive bidding was done to identify a provider of cars for the
three members of the panel ($200/car/day). Only the three panel members
had a car at their personal disposal and UN vehicles were made available
for the mediation to keep the cost down.
Pledges
have been made for $4.5 million. $0.5 million has been received from
SIDA. Other donors that have pledged support are Denmark, Norway and
Japan.
Additionally, UNDP has deployed an experienced Operations Manager to act
as the Head of Administration of the Mediation Secretariat to ensure all
funds and processes adhere to UNDP rules and regulations, as allowed by
this situation.
We'll see. We also note that in Burundi,
the request for UN protection from 46 lawmakers was delivered to UNDP's
Resident Coordinator in Bujumbura in late February. Inner City Press
asked about it at the UN noon briefing on
February 29, and was
told "that letter was given to the representative of the United
Nations in Bujumbura. We have not received that yet." When on
March 11, Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson said he was
alarmed by the subsequent grenade attacks on four of the lawmakers,
Inner City Press asked what was done after the threat and request for
help, which had been
based on a
previous grenade attack. While the spokesperson
said, "we'll find out what the UN has done," thirty hours after the
question was asked, there has been no answer. Watch this site.
* * *
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Reuters
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here
for an earlier
Reuters AlertNet
piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's
$200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.
Video
Analysis here
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