| Corruption at UN
in Somalia and Somali UN PR
Raised by Inner City Press Amid
MALU Ban
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
UN GATE,
Jan 13 – As Inner City Press
reported on corruption at the
UN in Somalia, it got banned
from the UN by SG Antonio
Guterres. Now in January 2026
Guterres has reiterated denial
of entry to Inner City Press,
including to ask Somali
Ambassador Abukar Osman about
Progressive Health Care
Services in the Midwest.
Now this: "Dear
Matthew Russell Lee.
Your post detailing corruption
in the United Nations Support
Office in Somalia (UNSOS) is
still relevant news.
Your post detailing the $51M
lost in taxpayers’ money was
eventually addressed by the
Office of Internal Oversight
Audit Division, but well after
the money was gone, and with
no investigation to
follow. Portions of this
audit you posted.
For the casual reader of your
posts, in the United Nations,
the audit and investigation
functions are separate.
Audits are a: “look, we found
a problem, and it was fixed”
mechanism. “Let’s not do it
again…ok?” The accountability
comes from an investigation
with findings and
recommendations.
No one was
considered accountable for
this loss as no investigation
took place. But, it was only
$51,000,000.
Your post
also shows money being
realigned from 23 other
mission areas to pay for this
ration’s delivery contract.
That’s because the contract
was not planned, not included
in the budget (not funded),
not needed, and was enormously
overpriced. Why would
the UN do such a thing?
Who would gain from
this? Such waste
is recurring in Mogadishu, and
it’s almost always rooted in
procurement irregularities.
About two years
ago, and when the present
Director took over,
massive and expensive
construction projects
started. Exclusively
going to Somali contractors
and largely arranged through
expired contracts (procurement
exceptions were made
here). Strange, in that
so many millions had already
been spent on construction
work in Somalia, which this HQ
had stopped years earlier.
Like the ration’s delivery
payments, money was realigned
from many other areas (and
missions) to fund
unbudgeted activities that the
new leadership deemed as
urgent, while the mission
simply asked for and received
$30.691M more in project
funding. (ref:
A/79/724/Add.10) from
2023-2025. Amidst the
financial crises, all field
budgets are reducing, but the
UNSOS’ budget is going up, up
and away!
Allegedly, deep family
relationships with the Somali
elite were well known when the
last Director was promoted
into the job. She previously
oversaw procurement in
UNSOS. In this case, the
newly appointed staff and
taxpayers were set up from the
get go. And yes, no one
likes working in such an
environment. But Member
States should be happy to know
that the DEI stats have
improved.
The
elephant in the room. The
Secretary-General has
relentlessly pursued DEI
policies, while few have
questioned whether selected
senior leaders can actually do
the job, and there is no
apparent conflict of
interest. But, the SG
wants the individuals he
appoints to be shown as good
selections, regardless of the
cost and performance. If
you ever do get a response
from the Ambassador, perhaps
you could ask him about his
ties to commercial contractors
in Somalia.
UN MALU belatedly
denied Inner City Press's June
19, 2025 application to enter,
on January 12, 2025. Inner
City Press has asked manager
Tal Mekel for an answer; more
coming.
***
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