| UN Whistleblowers
Tell Inner City Press of 25%
Guterres Budget Cuts in
Somalia and Deeqa
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
UN GATE,
Oct 31 – How corrupt is
today's UN under Antonio
Guterres? Consider Somalia, on
which UN spokespeople Stephane
Dujarric and Melissa Fleming
have refused all Press
questions. On October 31 this,
from a UN whistleblower sent
to Inner City Press:
Dear Matthew
Russell Lee,
Another travesty
in the United Nations Mission
in Somalia (UNSOS). A
few days ago, the UNHQ
dispatched code cables to all
the Peacekeeping missions
mandating a 15% reduction in
their 2025-2026 budgets.
With a third of the budget
year now over, in practical
terms this means that missions
will need cut a greater
percentage over the rest of
this budget period to make
this reduction target. That’s
bad news for mandates and
staff in the field, but it’s
even worse news for
UNSOS.
Over the past
couple years vendor payoff has
been prevalent in UNSOS.
The method used has been to
manipulate the procurement
system, exceptionally
extending big value contacts
with local companies for
periods measured in years. One
of these expired contracts had
millions and millions of
dollars in guaranteed yearly
payouts, for services little
used by the mission. It has
been pure profit for the
Somalia business elite and
pure UN waste.
Add to this
the unbelievable construction
boom the mission undertook
since the present Director
took charge a couple years
ago. Much of that, has also
been conducted on expired
contracts and under
exceptional procurement
arrangements.
Leading
the charge is a company called
Deeqa, which has been the
recipient of member states
money well into nine
figures.
Unlike all
the other peacekeeping
missions UNSOS will now take a
25% reduction this budget
year. This means,
compared to other missions,
many more staff will be
impacted by job loss.
It’s hard not to tie this
added job loss to the
procurement waste here.
What has happened here is so
very well known, so the member
states are reacting.
It matters
who the Secretary-General
appoints to these senior
posts. The present
Director has long standing
family ties to the Somali
political establishment, and
that was well known before her
promotion into the job.
She would have been the
Government’s first
choice. Staff are
concerned that the post
reductions here will not be
done fairly. If things
play out as expected many
staff will go home, and the
Director will be taken care of
- like the other most senior
UN appointments.
Guterres,
they say, should end
censorship. Application was
made on June 19, 2025, here.
Still as of October 7 no
answer at all from Melissa
Fleming or Stephane Dujarric.
Totally corrupt. Watch this
site.
***
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