Ban Ki-Moon : the Continuing Saga

The Secretary-General feels unappreciated . But , in the world of politics , this is nothing to write home about . He is probably in good company. Feeling depressed about it , in the position he holds, is a luxury he cann't afford.and ,as for voices telling him that critics are " unfair" , they are giving wrong advice.

Though to be sure some criticism of Mr. Ban Ki-Moon may well be unfair, most of it is certainly not. None but Mr. Ban Ki-Moon is to blame if , in his words, he "tries to lead by example" but hardly anyone follows.Not only at Headquarters but in the world at large, we've often heard it said that he is too much a Secretary and far too little a General. But if the troops don't follow , that may have something to do with the striking disconnect between his word and deed ; not because ,in his own words, he "does not talk too much".

No one will fault the S-G for not making his mark on the world in the spate of only two years. "Changing the world" ,which he promised , talking to senior managers of the UN in Turin , will certainly take longer. What everyone expected ,on the other hand , is is that he would begin the very difficult task of raising the profile and quality of performance of the UN Secretariat.

Let's be frank , Mr. Ban Ki-Moon.The image of the UN has never been so low. To outsiders and insiders alike, the prevalent impression is not that of an agency in single-minded pursuit of what is good for the world, but rather of a bloated , self-serving and inward-looking bureaucracy ; of mandarins competing for privilege and turf.

Slogans , soundbites and spin about accountability ,transparency and professionalism cannot conceal the reality of a United Nations "organized" like "warring kingdoms",where favoritism, corruption and arbitrariness reign. The Secretary-General could make a start by fighting this rampant corruption pandemic , restoring public trust , re-establishing due process , as well as unity of purpose and reintroducing respect for the rule of law.

More than a thousand words , this would raise the morale of the staff who see impunity reign ,the sycophants rewarded and culprits in the higher grades " get away with murder" ; just like this one Director who was allowed to escape with his ill-gotten gains (see Washington Times , June 12 , 2008) . In this particular case , disciplinary charges were pressed a day before the culprit was due to retire.Can anyone pretend that this is serious business ,or that the Secretary -General really means what he says ?

"Changing the UN culture" is not an impossible task.This is exactly what happened in these past 15 years , but it was change for the worse.The surge of graft ,corruption , intimidation, nepotism and power abuse came in the heels of policies brought in by Kofi Annan, in the early 1990s, which strangely Ban Ki-Moon wants to perpetuate.

"Simplify, deregulate , decentralize!" he argues. What in other organizations has proved a valid strategy , in the pluralistic environment of the United Nations has served as the green light to unscrupulous top managers to treat their programs and units as personal domain. Promoting fellow-nationals , awarding phoney contracts ,dispensing favors to nephews or friends and trying to cover up all of the above with " administrative lies " ,in the words of one of the culprits, are some of the dubious practices recorded in detail in the 90-page Report of the Procurement Task Force ( WT ,6/12/08).

In a world of "warring kingdoms" , where every program manager is law unto himself, "simplify , deregulate ,decentralize" have widely been interpreted as the privilege to stall in an attempt to bury an unfavorable report. Finalized some months ago, the report is still not out , but one of the culprit's associates was recently promoted to be an Ethics Adviser ; another telling example of how some program managers interpret " moving faster" .

To stamp out such malpractices , the S-G must indeed lead by example .Not only must he disallow such questionable moves ; he must rein in the culprits and take decisive steps to stop a free for all that damages the reputation of the United Nations and undermines its mission.