Thursday, August 13, 2009

"JOAN OF ARC IS HERE - CAN SHE CLEAN MASSIVE CORRUPTION AT UNDP?"



Liberty Scott has been lamenting the sychophancy of Tracy Wartskins and her New York jaunt to see Uncle Helen.
Naturally, we heard about the vindictiveness of National, and that New York was Helen's kind of town, but we never saw any tough questions, like what does the UNDP do?, does it do it well? And what does Clark intend doing?
Now there has been some commentary elsewhere that she will shake things up, she has an agenda and climate change and carbon trading schemes will be part of it.
New York could well become New Helengrad!!
Remember how she said New Zealand was now "too small" for her.
Well, we've save such speculation for another day, but some rigorous analysis of Uncle's motives at the UN would have been welcome instead of the fluff we saw.
But if the UNDP is to gain a bigger role in the governance of the affairs of the planet, we may want to question its record so far.
Now, there has been much criticism of the United Nations in general and there are blogsites like UNWatch. The NGO is based in Geneva and aims to monitor the UN in accordance with its principles.
The US has been a longstanding critic of the UN and you don't have to be an avid viewer of Fox News to realise the UN has problems with issues of corruption or even a leftist agenda.
The UNDP is central to the UN and Uncle Helen has a prime spot. Wasn't she declared number 3 or something in the entire organisation? So she is a big fish in this very large pond.
Any journo worth their salt could have had an easy trawl for info. There is even a UNDP Watch blogsite, apparantly run by UNDP staffers who want more openness in the 'secretive' organisation.
The UNDP Watch blog presents here an illuminating piece on the organisation's problems noting a shift in power from the assembly to bereaucrats and the UNDP becoming a 'cesspool'' of failed and discredited politicians.
A quick glance through this blog reveals a few interesting things, and certainly presents a good basis for any journo hoping to give a new global leader, for that is what Clark is, or intends to be, a good grilling on the issues facing her new role.
Helen Clark and New Zealand politics have featured on the blog already.
And I had to laugh that prior to her first speech, the blog mentioned Ian Wishart's book Absolute Power, noting a link to Amazon . Let's get to know better our Dear Leader' was an adjoining comment.
"Joan of Arc is here - will she be able to stand in front of a 6 billion dollar dirty machine?
Can she clean massive corruption at UNDP?"
was also posted below concerning her arrival.
Anyway, barely 100 days into her new job, Uncle has her first scandal, something to do with overpayments to consultants in Panama.
Obviously, as Liarbour leader for so long, Clark should be used to the swirl of scandal.
Perhaps this was valuable experience for her new role that helped her get it!
Either way, since this is Clark's first big test, it will be interesting to see how she gets along.
It will also be of interest to see if or how the New Zealand public will be told.

No comments: