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September 2006
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September 18, 2006 11:38 AM
What's Kofi Worth? -- The Mystery ContinuesIn a switch — sort of — Kofi Annan has finally agreed to fill out one of the financial disclosure forms now required of UN senior staff. But before anyone gets too excited about finally learning, as Roger Simon neatly put it, “How Rich is Kofi?” — or how, when, or if the Secretary-General might have parted ways with the Mystery Mercedes bought by his son in his name — remember that the UN is home to some of the world’s biggest veracity gaps. 1) At the UN, “disclosure” does not necessarily mean the public gets told anything at all. Whatever financial information Kofi might produce will be “disclosed” only in-house, inside the same UN that managed to cover up for years such matters as billions in graft under Oil-for-Food, hundreds of millions worth of allegedly bribe-tainted and/or questionably-allotted procurement contracts, and a variety of odd doings still not well-explained inside its own audit department.
2) The UN office receiving Kofi Annan’s “disclosure” form will be the same toothless “Ethics Office” that Kofi himself engendered inside his own Secretariat, meaning the folks vetting Kofi’s disclosure form report to the Under-Secretary-General for Management, who reports to Kofi. A beautiful setup, in its way — at least for Kofi Annan. 3) Kofi has not said when he will file a form. He retires in less then four months, he has already stonewalled almost that long, and he disclosed his decision to “disclose” by way of a Friday night message about three levels removed from a direct and transparent “Yes — here it is for the world to see.” Instead, we got the news from a story in The New York Times , which had an interview Friday night with Kofi’s deputy, Mark Malloch Brown, who said he had received a phone call from Kofi (then in Cuba, glad-handing the Castro brothers and other stars of the Non-Aligned Movement), who had decided to file after his refusal to do so, according to the Times, “emerged Wednesday in a press conference” — a phrase that implies the issue had only just come up, and Kofi had responded at speed. Actually, a number of reporters, myself included, have been asking Kofi Annan’s office about this matter for months, and getting no meaningful reply. Here’s an excerpt from an article I wrote for NRO July 11: Since June 19, I have been asking Annan’s spokesman’s office whether the secretary-general has complied, at least internally, with his own promise of transparency. Has he filed a disclosure form? And if so, who is in charge of reviewing it, or addressing any irregularities? First I was told, “Someone will get back to you.” Then, “I am awaiting answers to give you.” Three weeks passed, and this Monday I was told, “I just haven’t gotten a response.” Much more along these lines can be found at Inner-City Press. It’s one of the special arts of the UN, that even “disclosure” can become a way of covering up. So, let’s try it again: Why won’t Kofi Annan disclose to the public his financial disclosure form? Comments (4)Brian :Beagle :If journalistic prizes held any moral authority these days, you'd win a handful. But instead Bilal Hussein wins a Pulitzer. Alex Reed :Kofi may yet submit a financial statement of sorts in the next four months, if only essentially to himself. However, I think that it's safe to assume that the trajectory of that financial statement and a whole alpine range of other documents is certain to find its true target in a bang up end-of-term shredding party. I dare say that Kofi can count on his entire coterie of pals and coconspirators to roll up their sleeves in a final effort to present the next SG a pristine Secretariat devoid of all the clutter of pesky documents. And think of all the money they'll save on heating bills by just chucking the shreds into the furnace.... Mike DeWitt :Claudia, A thousand thanks for all the great work you've done! I don't know how you do it. The world of the UN is so perverted as to threaten one's basic standing equilibrium, much less her grasp of Reason. Mike Comments have been archived for this page. |
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My recollection is that when, a decade ago, the Secretary General for the next ten years was to be selected, the US was quite strongly opposed to Kofi Annan and tried to thwart his bid. I don't recall who the US favored in his place, but in the event the vote (obviously) went against us, we ate our disappointment, proclaimed we'd be happy to work with the Kofster (like we could say otherwise, given the vote was democracy, one country one vote, in action), and the rest is, as they say, (sordid) history.
If my memory is correct, it looks like the US had Mr. Annan pretty well figured out even then.
In passing -- a thousand thanks Claudia. A great many of us appreciate what you do and take heart from it. Plus, we use the tools you provide us, each in our small way.
Brian
Sep 18, 2006 06:57 PM