| UN PGA
Abdulla Shahid Won't Say Which Staff on
Thai Junket Or Who Pays Them, Bans Press
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
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UN GATE, May 22 –
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
each of their their staff
members were funded, and by
whom.
And now, even
that insufficient reform is
not being complied with. As of
October 31, under staff,
rather than lists who pays
whom, Shahid says "Information
on the staff of the Office of
the President The staff of the
Office of the President of the
General Assembly (OPGA) are
identifiable through their
biographies on the website."
This makes a mockery of
transparency, and violates the
post-Ashe commitment. And the
Press that asks about ongoing
UN corruption is
banned.
Now in May 2022 Abdulla
Shahid is
again on the
road, this
time in Thailand,
bragging about
the the people
he'll meet. In
faux
disclosure he
says, "The
trip is
co-sponsored
by the
Economic and
Social
Commission for
Asia and the
Pacific and
the OPGA Trust
Fund." He
doesn't even,
as on Palau,
mention the
word COSTS, as
in "costs
associated
with the visit
are paid for
by the Office
of the
President of
the General
Assembly’s
Trust Fund.
The President
is accompanied
by three
members of his
Office."
WHICH
staff members,
and who is
paying THEM?
Shahid has
continued to
refuse to say,
and his
spokesperson
Paulina Kubiak
Greer, who
often gets no
questions at
all in the
briefing room
or WebEx, has
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
daily e-mailed
questions.
On this
murky drip "On
22 May,
President
Shahid met
with the
United Nations
Country Team
in Thailand,
led by
Resident
Coordinator
Gita Sabharwal. President
Shahid will
meet with
high-level
officials of
the Royal Thai
Government,
and other
regional
government
officials
in-attendance
at the UNESCAP
78th session.
The President
will also meet
with ESCAP
Executive
Director
Armida Salsiah
Alisjahbana.
The President
is being
accompanied by
five personnel
from his
Office."
Which
five?
Who pays them?
Shahid's is
not a
"Presidency of
Hope" - it is
a presidency
of corruption,
or at least,
of censorship.
Back on September
16, 2021 Inner City Press
wrote to then-new PGA Abdulla
Shahid's then-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 31 in Glasgow
pontificated: "We must be
honest about this, with
ourselves, with each other,
and with the rest of the
world." Honest?
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. Also
complicity in the censorship
of Press: Carl
Mercer Lead,
Communications, Advocacy &
Speechwriting. At the UN,
there are other more accurate
words to describe these
functions. Watch this site.
***
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