Saturday 18 October 2008

Comment on REFORM UN-DESA: we're in dire need of reform

First of all I would like to congratulate your initiative to expose and fight internal corruption and miss-management that is eating and consuming UN-DESA alive.

As a staff member of UN-DESA for more than 15 years, I have witness with great concern the increasing attack by critics in the United States and other countries towards our department. The truth at the heart of our department's mounting problems is an almost total lack of accountability, which gives rise to suspicions of wholesale corruption. With the latest publication from your BLOG and reputable MEDIA on Guido Bertucci's, EO's and TCMS's practices, indicates that corruption and mismanagement go beyond the routine fraud, waste, and abuse of resources.

UN-DESA's budgets are shrouded in secrecy, and the actual performance is translucent, if not opaque. There is no reliable way to determine whether the various and often competing Divisions and/or Branches are doing their jobs, and many DESA activities, even if they are of some value, can be carried out better and more efficiently by other groups (NGOs or even UN Funds and Programmes). Other activities should not be undertaken at all.

The latest available evidence from OIOS investigations coupled with DESA's management unwillingness to undergo a thorough audit raise serious questions about our mission and the means used to carry it out. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's rationale that the UN is accountable to all its 185 member-states is meaningless. Such an amorphous standard of accountability is akin to saying no one is responsible.

Today UN-DESA, our/my Department, is in dire need of reform, starting with a comprehensive, independent audit of all our activities and programmes.

Even if a complete audit were performed inside DESA today, however, with the current leadership and management - there is no guarantee anything would be done about the problems identified. And radical change may not be possible, no matter how obvious the need. Given all the earlier, failed attempts to put things right, even on a limited basis, staff optimism about meaningful reform may be an exercise in wishful thinking.

Its 18 months since Mr. Sha Zukang came at DESA, and nothing has changed so far. While I remain skeptical about CHANGE, I hope that your BLOG will open the eyes of the outsiders and media and pressure our managers to do the right thing for once.

Best Regards,

a DESA employee
(name withhold for fear of retaliation)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This blog is pathetic.
Sergei Kambalov

Anonymous said...

this is compliment considering the source - say hello to KGB from us Sergei .....

Anonymous said...

This is outregous and yes Sergei I totally agree, pathetic too!

How can he/she/they talk on behalf of DPADM? Why such anger with everyone at DPADM, DESA and all the world.

We enjoy working at DPADM and DESA overall, so just come out of a cave and speak normally if there is any concerns.

And by the way, human resources/promotions are not the only concern anyway.........

Anonymous said...

Elida before sucking up to the establishement, have you thought what support staff and other professional colleagues think of your qualifications? You should better ask first.

And yes if exposing corrupt behaviour inside DESA is pathetic - than we are a pathetic blog;
If exposing the nepotism, mismanagement of HR and hiring of unqualified staff at our Department is pathetic - than we are pathetic.

This is the UN and not Socialist Camp, where people have to suck up to the likes of Bertucci, or witness the corruption of Executive Office and shut up.

You and Sergei can sing Internationale song as much as you want, but CHANGE is about to come to UN too, and staff have enough of this corrupt environment.