| UN PGA
Abdulla Shahid Is Not Disclosing Funding
But Goes On Road As Press Banned
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
UN GATE, Oct 2 –
After UN President of the
General Assembly John Ashe was
indicted for taking bribes
from Chinese government
businessman Ng Lap Seng, and
died before trial, the UN's
lone reform was to say that
future PGAs would disclose how
their office and travel and
staff members were
funded.
And now, even
that insufficient reform is
not being complied with. And
the Press that asks about
ongoing UN corruption is
banned.
On September 16
Inner City Press wrote to new
PGA Abdulla Shahid's
spokesperson Monica Grayley,
"state when you will put on
the PGA website the financial
and staffing information
committed to after the
indictment of then PGA John
Ashe."
It asked for
confirmation of receipt, and a
copy of the list of speakers
for the UNGA High Level Week.
Neither was provided, nor any
response on what Shahid,
Maldives' foreign minister,
will do to ensure access to
"his" UNGA by the Press which
asks these questions.
Instead, with the
Press still banned, Shahid on
October 1 bragged: "I know you
would like this piece of
information: the shortest
speech (Guinea-Bissau) lasted
5 minutes and the longest
intervention (by Papua New
Guinea) had a duration of 46
minutes.
Another issue that was spoken
about at length – and which
was sadly on display – was the
deeply poor gender
representation at the highest
levels of our work. Only 18
(9.2%) of the 194 speakers
this year were women...
Tonight, I will
fly to the United Arab
Emirates to visit the Dubai
EXPO 2020. On 6 October, I
will go to the Maldives for an
official visit and will end
these travels in Belgrade,
Serbia, for the Conference on
the 60th Anniversary of the
First Conference of the
Non-Aligned
Movement.
I will be back in the Office
on 13 October." Who is paying
for all this? And how can the
Press be banned? Corrupt
There is a
pending application to the UN
Media Accreditation and
Liaison Unit, acknowledged
(unlike PGA Shahid's Grayley)
but not acted on.
On September 17,
with the "Team" section of PGA
Shahid's website still empty,
Inner City Press wrote to two
other staffers in the PGA's
office, Carl Mercer
Lead, Communications, Advocacy
& Speechwriting and Ahmed
Salman Zaki, Executive
Assistant to the PGA. Watch
this site.
***
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