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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.

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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These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click 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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