inside the glass house

UN jobs nailed to the desk
NEW YORK - In a long bygone era, the United Nations offered one of the world's most secure jobs -- you just couldn't get fired, not for incompetency, not for inefficiency and not for insubordination. But presumably they threw the book at you if you were caught red-handed with your fingers in the till -- or if you ran away with the neighbourhood church funds.

One of the legendary stories is that of an angry, and presumably beefy, secretary who lifted her typewriter and threw it at her boss in a fit of rage. In less than 24 hours, there was a circular from the human resources department to all managerial heads: all typewriters, the circular said, are to be nailed to their desks.

The secretary got away unpunished primarily because she was protected by what was then called a "permanent contract" assuring her a job for life. The story may be apocryphal but it conveyed the message that UN jobs were sacred. But all that has changed because most jobs in the UN Secretariat are now on temporary or short-term contracts giving management the option of not renewing them.

Although the majority of hardcore staffers are dedicated and conscientious, the incompetent staffers who get their jobs through nepotism and political payoffs are what legends are made of. Last week was a week full of surprises even by UN's lackadaisical standards on inefficiency and incompetence.

An investigation into security lapses in the deaths of 22 international staffers in the bombing of the UN compound in Baghdad last August triggered the resignation of the second highest ranking official in the Secretariat, the virtual firing of the UN Security Coordinator, and the forced resignation of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has complained that the past year was a particularly difficult one both for the organisation and for him personally, declined to accept the resignation of his second-in-hand, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette of Canada, taking into account the collective nature of the security failures in Iraq. Frechette was chair of the UN Steering Group on Iraq.

But the UN Staff Union, which demanded stricter punishment, said that Annan's action fell far short of expectations. "We would like to see everyone of those responsible for security lapses forced to resign from their jobs," said Guy Candusso, vice president of the Staff Union.

"We have 22 people dead. We have had charges of 'gross negligence' and 'massive security failures'. And we have staffers responsible for this debacle retired with their pensions intact? Does the punishment fit the crime?," he asked.

The crisis over the security failures in Iraq comes on top of a growing scandal over the systematic abuse of the UN's multi-billion dollar oil-for-food programme.

The Secretariat has been accused of turning a blind eye into possible kickbacks whilst the former Saddam Hussein government allegedly pocketed over $10 billion in smuggled oil revenues and illicit proceeds -- all under UN supervision.

The news media have also charged that one of the Swiss companies that benefited from the oil-for-food programme had employed Annan's son. "Yes, he had worked for the company," Annan told reporters last week. "But I had nothing to do with the contracts committee (responsible for doling out contracts under the oil-for-food programme)".

Annan said his son had left the company, but was working for them mainly in West Africa, Nigeria and Ghana. "And the process as reported was completely above board, and they reviewed all the bids and went through their processes and selected the winner," he added.

The news from Baghdad also seems to grow from bad to worse. As the US run Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is getting ready to bail out of Baghdad on June 30, the US is trying to shift its responsibility by virtually handing over a violently destabilized Iraq to the world body.

Last month, a unnamed US official in Washington was quoted by the New York Times as saying: "We are trying to put this issue in Kofi Annan's lap and let him run with it."

But since the UN is still being perceived as a political mouthpiece of the US, Annan is having a hard time convincing the Iraqis that he is no stalking horse for the Bush administration. Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the powerful Shiite cleric who remains a stumbling block to Bush administration's plans for a future pro-US Iraq, is unhappy that the UN sided with Washington when Annan declared that nation-wide elections is not feasible by June 30.

Last week al-Sistani sent a letter to the UN urging the world body to desist from endorsing a US-inspired temporary constitution imposed on the Iraqis. The Ayatollah has also warned that he will not cooperate with a UN mission currently in Baghdad to help Iraqis set up electoral procedures for the upcoming elections, possibly scheduled for next year. An expected 'fatwa' or religious edict from the Ayatollah may throw UN plans into tailspin.

Last week's killing of four US contractors in Fallujah and the public display of their mutilated bodies have also come as a warning to the United Nations. The Iraqis in the streets of Baghdad and Basra have repeatedly conveyed the message they want to rid the country of all foreigners, including humanitarian workers. In a deteriorating security climate, the UN will be foolhardy to take its chance in Iraq.

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