In
Corrupt UN of Guterres
Gebeyehu Negewo Gets Nairobi
Post Despite Role in Rights
Violations
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
CJR PFT
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, March 8 – The
corruption in
the UN system
under UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres
ranges from
impunity for
sexual abuse
and harassment
to
double-dipping
of benefits,
to massive
over-spending
on travel by Guterres
himself, by
Erik Solheim
whose
resigntion for
it Guterres
has accepted
and others at
UNEP
and, as Inner
City Press is
detailing in
an ongoing
series of
articles based
on leaked
documents, in
the UN
Development
Program and
its Office of
South South
Cooperation.
We focused on
19 September
2018
on the Deputy
Administrator
of UNDP,
Tegegnework
Gettu, whose
travel waste
we previously
reported
on and his
threat to
staff that
they better be
careful, see
below. Now on
8 March 2019,
with Inner
City Press
banned by
Guterres for
the 247th day
from attending
the noon
briefing and
asking
questions, it
was used to
announce: "And
lastly but not
last.
Today, we are
announcing the
appointment of
Workneh
Gebeyehu
Negewo of
Ethiopia as
Director-General
of the UN
Office at
Nairobi,
otherwise
known as
UNON.
Mr. Gebeyehu
succeeds Hanna
Tetteh of
Ghana who was
appointed as
Special
Representative
to the African
Union and Head
of the UN
Office to the
African
Union.
Currently
Minister for
Foreign
Affairs of
Ethiopia since
2016." So wait
- given that
time period,
and before,
how many human
rights
violations did
he defend and
participate
in? Many. But
Guterres
doesn't care -
he took the
golden statue
for notorious
killer Paul
Biya of
Cameroon.
Guterres is
killing the UN
in New York -
and now in
Nairobi. We'll
have more on
this. Inner
City Press was
thrown out of
the UN without
due process -
reiterated in
a Kafka-esque
denial on 2
January 2019 -
and Guterres
spokesman has
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
questions
about travel
waste, of his
boss Guterres
and about UNDP
in particular.
And now Gettu
is gone - he
left UNDP on
31 December
2018, with
nary a
farewell
message to
staff, many of
whom had
complained
repeatedly to
Inner City
Press about
him. One
exclusively
shared with
Inner City
Press, "The
Administrator
[Achim
Steiner] had
invited all
UNDP HQ Staff
to Gettu’s
Farewell party
with a
reminder but
only a few
people
attended the
party at on 7
December
2018.
Except for one
Ethiopian lady
who works in
the Executive
Office, all
his compatriot
didn’t attend
his
party.
On 31 December
2018, the
Administrator
sent the
Gettu’s
Farewell
message and
everyone was
expecting his
final good-bye
message but he
didn’t send
anything and
left the
organization
quietly.
Late in the
afternoon, the
UNDP Bulletin
communicated
Gettu’s
personal email
to all
staff.
It is a shame
he didn’t even
have the
courage to say
good-bye...
The next
question is to
the
Administrator,
how is he
going to clean
Gettu’s
messes:
corruption,
injustice,
nepotism
recruitment
and
retaliation on
those who
stand for
their
right.
From: UNDP
Bulletin
Sent: Monday,
December 31,
2018 5:26 PM
Subject:
Mr.
Tegegnework
Gettu
Dear
Colleagues,
I am sharing
with you Mr.
Gettu’s email
address, in
case you would
like to
contact him...
All the best
for
2019.
From: Achim
Steiner
Sent:
Monday,
December 31,
2018 9:55 AM
Subject: FW:
Farewell to
our Associate
Administrator
- Tegegnework
Gettu
Dear UNDP
Colleagues,
Today is not
only the last
day of the
year
2018. It
is also the
day when our
Associate
Administrator
and my dear
colleague and
friend ‘Teg’,
will ‘turn off
the lights in
his office’
one last time,
before
stepping into
the elevator
on the 21st
floor of our
DC1 Building
and bring to
closure the
last chapter
of his decades
long journey
with UNDP and
the United
Nations.
I would like
to take this
opportunity to
express my
appreciation -
and I believe
I do so also
on behalf of
my
predecessors -
to Mr. Gettu
for a ‘life of
exceptional
service’ to
development,
UNDP and the
United
Nations.
Many of you
will have -
over the years
- worked with
him, met him,
learned from
him, agreed or
disagreed with
him. Like me,
I expect you
will have
realised
quickly that
Mr. Gettu
brought to his
many
assignments
not only
professional
rigour but
also
exceptional
commitment to
the
organisation
and countries
he
served.
Many
colleagues in
UNDP learned
from him - be
it in terms of
his passion
for what we
do, the lack
of tolerance
he had for
‘shoddy work’,
his
willingness to
serve the
organisation
wherever it
needed him
most -
including a
few years in
the UN
Secretariat as
USG for DGCAM
- and the
highest
standards he
applied to
himself (...
anyone whoever
gave him an
interesting
book would
know that
within a few
days he would
be ready to
discuss a
heavily
annotated and
underlined
version of
it)!
As we say
‘goodbye’ to
Mr. Gettu -
our Associate
Administrator
- I want to
add my
personal thank
you for the 18
months we
worked
together as a
team in the
Executive
Office. From
the day I was
appointed by
the
Secretary-General
to lead UNDP
through its
next chapter,
I was
fortunate to
have Teg’s
wisdom,
knowledge and
experience to
draw on, as I
learnt to
‘understand
UNDP and its
crew’.
Sometimes
leadership is
as much about
“listening and
learning” as
it is about
“leading and
deciding”. I
could not have
asked for a
better
‘companion’
and remain
grateful for
this time that
we - together
- led UNDP
through a
period of
intense
transformation
and
change.
As he leaves
us to return
to Ethiopia I
would like to
- on behalf of
all of us in
UNDP and the
UN family -
wish him, his
wife and
family, all
the best for
the new year
and for what
lies ahead as
they return
home.
With my best
wishes,
Achim
Steiner."
Gettu's help
to scam
elections by
Ethiopia's
prior prime
minister have
been reported
- in exchange,
sources day,
for support to
make Gettu a
high UN
official. This
is Guterres'
UN. Travel
expenses by
UNDP in 2017
amounted to
nearly $27
million, and
by August 2018
came in at a
staggering $26
million four
months short
of year end.
Gettu's tab is
$159,640.41.
Look
in his leaked
list at his
inflated
airfare to
Switzerland,
leaked travel
budget
document
downloadable
on Patreon here, with
Air Ticket the
first column
and
"Allowance"
the second :
TEGEGNEWORK
GEITU,
Associate
Administrator
$ 159,640.41
Nigeria $
11,197.00 $
280.00
Norway $
5,116.00 $
784.00
Afghanistan $
16,260.00 $
162.00
Switzerland $
22,136.21 $
368.00
Japan $
5,405.00 $
574.00
China $
3,459.00 $
460.00
Afghanistan $
20,489.00 $
162.00
China, Qatar $
16,697.00 $
2,178.00
Kenya $
4,473.00 $
1,050.00
Malaysia $
11,084.00 $
216.00
China -
Ethiopia $
16,645.02 $
1,545.57
Djibouti $
6,916.00 $
466.35
Eritrea $
1,273.26 $
430.00
China $
9,398.00 $
416.00
We'll
have more on
this. On
September 18,
as elsewhere
in the UN
system
corrupted by
Guterres the
head of UN
Environment
Erik Solheim
blames his
travel waste
on his own
administrative
(Inner City
Press
exclusively
pubished
Solheim's
internal email
here),
we focus on
the head of
UNDP, Achim
Steiner. Since
being given
the top job at
UNDP by
Guterres in
exchange for
allowing
Guterres'
power grab of
the UN
Resident
Coordinator
system from
UNDP, one of
the dubious
reform for
support of
which by UN
Budget
Committee char
Tommo Monthe
of Cameroon
Guterres
helped cover
up Cameroon's
slaughter of
Anglophones,
Steiner's
international
travel has
cost nearly
$10,000 or
more for
airfare per
trip, with one
trip to
Myanmar
- Japan -
United Kingdom
costing around
$28,000 for
airfare only.
Leaked travel
budget
document
downloadable
on Patreon here, with
Air Ticket the
first column
and
"Allowance"
the second :
UNDP
MANAGEMENT Air
Ticket
Allowance
ACHIM STEINER,
Administrator
$ 353,732.24
Switzerland $
1,024.00 $ -
New York $
9,345.00 $ -
New York $
8,612.00 $
151.68
Italy $
10,205.00 $
320.00
Myanmar -
Japan - United
Kingdom $
28,453.45 $
1,239.04
Sweden -
Norway $
7,409.00 $
736.00
Germany $
10,039.00 $
324.00
United Kingdom
$ 6,576.00 $
439.75
San Francisco
$ 3,758.00 $
411.24
Washington DC
$ 408.00 $
1,029.68
Washington DC
$ 612.00 $
893.06
Sweden $
9,887.00 $
214.00
Egypt $
7,345.00 $
207.00
Germany -
Qatar $
11,991.00 $
2,592.06
Switzerland -
India - China
- France $
31,443.70 $
1,969.64
Switzerland -
Ethiopia -
Somalia $
19,652.30 $
6,976.69
UAE - Kuwait -
Lebanon -
Germany -
Belgium $
19,985.00 $
3,143.32
Washington DC
$ 1,380.00 $
545.57
Zimbabwe -
Argentina $
16,523.00 $
1,284.38
Boston $
523.62 $
385.00
Turkey -
France $
11,515.30 $
708.59
United Kingdom
$ 6,877.00 $ -
Sweden $
5,779.00 $
838.00
Washington DC
$ 915.00 $
1,099.70
Belgium -
United Kingdom
$ 7,974.00 $
4,521.88
Norway -
Russia $
9,617.00 $
938.03
Switzerland -
France -
Germany $
13,829.00 $
2,382.77
France $
13,350.00 $
841.35
Vietnam $
6,830.00 $
402.67
Argentina -
United Kingdom
$ 17,915.00 $
764.77
Angola -
Namibia $
8,616.00 $ -
Germany $
6,098.00 $
322.00
Panama $
3,037.00 $
526.00." All
for a total of
$
353,732.24....
Note that
Guterres' son
has business
links,
undisclosed
and unanswered
on, in Angola
and Namibia.
We'll have
more on this.
We started
September 17
with UNOSSC
because
after exposing
how it was
used by
convicted UN
briber Ng Lap
Seng, a
corrupt
censorship
order by
Guterres and
his Global
Communicator
Alison Smale
resulted last
week in Inner
City Press
remaining
banned from a
press
conference by
OSSC director
Jorge Chediek,
who was then
invited by the
resident
correspondents
present to say
that te
Office's
corruption has
been
"fabricated."
Video here.
This is
the UN of
Guterres, who
has taken 15
publicly
funded junkets
to Lisbon on
which his
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric has
refused to
answer or
disclose the
costs. And
this is
Chediek's
spending on
travel,
exclusive
leaked
document here.
Chediak has
undertaken 27
trips, costing
nearly
$145,000. The
issue of Mr.
Chediek' s
travel has
been raised
previously by
Inner City
Press. In a 10
April 2017 article,
Inner City
Press wrote
that the
director
"devotes his
time to
useless travel
promoting
books already
'launched' in
New York and
to pitching
the conference
that would
give him his
ASG post." In
the lead up to
BAPA+40, a
majorinternational
conference to
be paid for
and hosted by
the bankrupt
Argentine
government, he
seems to be
doing just
that,
including
bragging about
this meeting
with Guterres'
Global Censor
Alison Smale
who has not
provided any due
process,
nor made the
UN's minimal
public
financial
disclosure. In
a recent
example of the
excessive
travels
undertaken by
the staff of
this
questionable
Office, a
conference in
China saw a
total of four
staff from New
York, all
Chinese
nationals,
accompany Mr.
Chediek.
Despite this
undeniable
waste, and in
the context of
considerable
strain on
UNDP' s core
funding, the
Office for
South-South
Cooperation
has
managed to
escape all
budgetary
cuts. The
Office
continues to
receive $3.5
million and a
similar amount
for staff
salaries
annually as
core funding
from UNDP for
the 2018 -
2021 period.
More on
Chediek's
travel, in a
series to be
carried out
down the line
at UNDP, with
Air Ticket the
first column
and
"Allowance"
the second :
JORGE CHEDIEK,
UN Office for
South-South
Cooperation $
144,298.82
Benin $
5,390.00
$ 509.04
Switzerland $
2,450.00 $
1,272.00
Thailand $
3,140.00 $
975.53
Turkey -
Kazakhstan $
4,500.00 $
1,091.24
Kenya $
4,740.00 $
1,210.72
China $
5,270.00 $
673.40
Brazil $
5,950.00 $
505.76
Argentina $
3,520.00 $
1,230.00
China - India
$ 9,045.10 $
1,420.90
Argentina $
4,053.00 $
1,168.32
France $
2,424.50 $
1,313.68
Germany $
2,315.00 $
1,030.00
Brazil $
2,672.10 $
815.50
Turkey $
2,722.00 $
363.00
Bangladesh -
Hong Kong $
7,800.00 $
1,771.48
Hawaii $
2,848.00 $
337.80
Egypt - France
$ 3,976.90 $
2,283.00
Brazil $
2,747.60 $
822.17
Argentina $
5,053.70 $
909.52
Portugal -
Spain $
3,832.01 $
1,698.16
Cuba $ 342.70
$ 848.94
South Africa $
7,424.50 $
710.39
China $
5,429.00 $
1,307.21
France -
Norway $
1,912.71 $
1,603.60
Thailand $
6,326.00 $
1,262.83
Egypt $
5,650.00 $
983.92
India $
3,882.21 $
763.68
Yes, a
total of over
$144,000. But
there's worse
at UNDP -
watch this
site.
***
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