November 20, 2004
Commentary:
UN Chief Faces Staff No Confidence Vote
By Jack GrantThese aren't happy times for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan: staffers have given a thumbs down on senior management.
There is no way this looks good for Annan's longevity in that post:
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan faced a political crisis yesterday when U.N. employees delivered a stunning no-confidence vote against senior management.Tensions, simmering inside U.N. headquarters for months, exploded into a full-scale revolt when the U.N. staff union, for the first time in the organization's 60-year history, passed a resolution officially rebuking senior management.
Any time in any organization that you get a precedent-setting rebellion against a leader it means there are major problems for that leader -- or that leader may quickly become an unleader. More:
The vote was held in the wake of a series of scandals that have shaken the international organization to its core.It certainly sounds that way. If you add the various UN scandals to Annan clearly not being a bud of the Bush administration it's a recipe for a rocky -- or totally short-circuited -- career... Posted by Jack Grant at 09:28 on 20 November 2004"The senior management no longer displays the level of integrity expected of all employees or the organization," said a draft of the resolution.
The staff uprising comes at a time when Annan and his cronies are already entangled in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal.
And coming from a union that initially welcomed the appointment of the career diplomat Annan to the top U.N. post, it is considered a huge embarrassment.
"I think Annan is on the way out," said U.N. critic Nile Gardiner, a former aide to ex-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Although I think very poorly of the UN, it's nice to see rumblings that they're going to clean house.
Posted by: Dean Esmay at November 20, 2004 05:51 PM
