The Telegraph: Aid to despot must stop

Click here to read the full story on the Telegraph

Telegraph View: Andrew Mitchell, the Development Secretary, must cancel aid to Rwanda's president Paul Kagame immediately.

How many guest speakers at the Conservative Party conference have been accused of helping an indicted war criminal to lay waste to a swathe of Africa? Step forward President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, a plausible and ruthless autocrat, who was favoured with a special invitation to address the party faithful in 2007. Even at the time, this was an odd decision. Mr Kagame’s subsequent behaviour casts doubt over whether he is fit to have any kind of relationship with Britain.

According to United Nations investigators, Rwanda has supplied weapons and volunteers to rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo who have inflicted yet more bloodshed on that benighted country and driven 470,000 people from their homes. The man behind the uprising is Bosco Ntaganda, a renegade general popularly known as the “terminator”, who appears supremely unconcerned about his indictment by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. If the UN is right and Rwanda has been helping this warlord, then Mr Kagame’s behaviour is unconscionable. America clearly believes the UN: Washington has ended military aid for Rwanda.

And Britain? We are Rwanda’s largest bilateral aid donor, with a programme worth £75 million this year. Unusually, Britain gives Mr Kagame “general budgetary support”, meaning that £37 million goes straight into his coffers.  

Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, has “delayed” a payment of £16 million. Given the gravity of the charges, this inadequate response suggests that Britain is still inhibited by loyalty to the despot and embarrassment over having favoured him for so long. The idea that any leader who promotes murder and plunder should receive funding is abhorrent. Mr Mitchell should cancel aid to Rwanda's government immediately...

Click here to read the full story on the Telegraph 

Will Aurelien Agbenonci end up in a loony house like Omar Noman - for daring to question UNDP's flagship report validity?

Omar Noman a former head of UNDP Sri-Lanka ended up in a loony house in Britain, apparently for daring to question UNDP's actions in Sri-Lanka and some of UNDP's "special operations" in the South-East Asia region.

Despite the high ranking Noman held inside the UNDP's cupola, the organization could not accept that someone within its ranks disobey and make statements inconsistent to its ideology. Thus UNDP responded to him this way:

Although Mr. Noman is a UNDP staff member, he is currently not authorized to exercise any official function or speak on behalf of UNDP or the United Nations. Any messages under his name are expressed solely in his personal capacity.(click here for this)

At the time of this statement from UNDP, Mr. Noman was the head of a Regional Centre in Sri-Lanka, so imagine UNDP HQs revoking the right to speak on behalf of Organization to a Head of Regional Centre who represent the organization in that region.

Yesterday we all heard the direct accusations from Rwandan Government and UNDP's Representative in Kigali that UNDP's flagship report "Human Development Report 2011" contained inaccurate data, and what more "scandalous" in Agbenonci's statement is that he said:

"The figures were not updated, and did not come from our office (UNDP in Kigali)". "We will get in touch with the HDR office at the headquarters. We are also handling the matter with the Government". (click here for this)

Given the end Mr. Omar Noman had at UNDP for "disagreeing" with his superiors, seems that Mr. Agbenonci might be headed for some rough waters.

There is only one way at UNDP:

Rwandan Government denounces UNDP HDR data - UNDP's Resident Representative in Rwanda says he was not consulted on data used from Khalid Malik

CAN ANYONE TRUST UNDP ?

RWANDAN GOVERNMENT SAY: THEY LIED !

UNDP HDR COST $20 MILLION - FOR COPY-PASTE DATA FROM PAST REPORTS?

HOW CAN KHALID MALIK JUSTIFY EXPENDITURES?

HOW MANY HUNDREDS "FAKE CONSULTANTS" WERE HIRED FROM UNDP IN NEW YORK TO MAKE UP DATA FOR RWANDA AND OTHER COUNTRIES?

@undpwatchundpwatch

Why is @UNDP &@HelenClarkundp lying about development in #Rwanda ?undpwatch.blogspot.com@norwayUN @usjoe_un@roslehtinen @secgen

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Statement of Government of Rwanda on UNDP's HDR Reporting: - Government confirms that Khalid Malik's data does not represent reality

WHY IS UNDP INTERESTED TO SHOW NO GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN RWANDA?

WHY IS UNDP LYING ON DEVELOPMENT DATA FOR AFRICAN COUNTRIES?

Outdated and misleading data in HDR 2011

Posted on 14. Nov, 2011 by frank.higiro Categories: Ministry, National Development Planning & Research

Rwanda's court of arm and the 2007 National Human Development Report's cover page.

The Government of Rwanda disagrees with rankings in 2011 Human Development Report released by UNDP on November, 2nd 2011.

UNDP's affiliated office, HDR published its 2011 Global Human Development Report on the theme “Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All”. The HDR, among others, ranks countries and areas depending on their Human Development Index value.

Rwanda dismisses the rankings on the basis of the outdated data used as well as the fact that the estimation methodology is not backed by sound judgment taking into account the country context.

Estimated indices are based on data from international sources that are supposed to allow comparison between countries; however for Rwanda data used are often more than five years old and the most recent are 3 years old for others. That actually means comparing countries at different period of time and still ranking them as if data referred to the same period which is misleading and makes questionable any conclusion and/or comparison between countries.

To cite but a few, examples include: the contraceptive prevalence rate taken at 36 while it is today at 45, births attended by skilled health personnel taken at 52 while it is today at 69, the Fertility rate taken at 5.3 while it is in reality at 4.6.

Furthermore, estimations of indices are based on assumptions made on the source database that do not take into account development in various countries. The methodology used in updating some of the data is not based on judgment within country context. It completely ignores developments at national level.

In the report, the inequality-adjusted HDI calculations are based on an estimated gini coefficient of 0.531 while Rwanda has never been at that level. The proportion of people under the national poverty line is estimated at 58.5% which higher than 6 years ago. Any assumption or results from this estimation can only be erroneous for Rwanda it would mean increasing rates of poverty and inequality in Rwanda over the last 10 years; which everybody who knows Rwanda would agree as being unsound and in contradiction with trends.

The Government has been working with country offices of UN agencies in Kigali and UNDP country office is as surprised as the Government on the data used in the report.

Aurelien Agbenonci says: UNDP's flagship report on Human Development Index for 2011 was misleading and had inaccurate data

UNDP SCANDAL IN KIGALI

(RWANDA)

The UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP's Resident Representative in Rwanda had some very tough accusations against the UNDP's HDR Director Khalid Malik and UNDP's Helen Clark.

Agbenonci accused UNDP that:

"The figures were not updated, and did not come from our office (UNDP in Kigali)". "We will get in touch with the HDR office at the headquarters. We are also handling the matter with the Government".

Here is the article about the above scandal as it appeared in AllAfrica.com (click here)

Rwanda: Human Development Report Misleading - UN Envoy

14 November 2011

---

The data that were used in measuring Rwanda's performance in various development indicators in the 2011 Human Development Report (HDR) are outdated, the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Rwanda, said yesterday.

"The figures were not updated, and did not come from our office (in Kigali)," Aurelien Agbenonci told The New Times, in reference to the UNDP's 2011 Human Development Report, titled, Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All, which was launched globally in Copenhagen, on November 2.

The Report, which featured the 2011 Human Development Index (HDI), a composite measure of health, education and income, ranked Rwanda 166 out of 187 countries with comparative data, and an HDI of 0.429, below the average of Sub-Saharan Africa (0.463).

The HDR is a UNDP affiliated office, which produces annual publications about human development around the world.

Agbenonci, who is also the co-chair of the Development Partners Coordination Group in Rwanda, added: "We will get in touch with the HDR office at the headquarters. We are also handling the matter with the Government."

The UNDP Resident Representative, however, refrained from delving into further details, insisting he did not wish to make more comments about the report in the media.

On its part, the Government has equally contested the ranking, citing use of archaic data, misleading comparisons, and unknown data sources. The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, John Rwangombwa, said the report largely relied on the 2005 data, and questioned the relevance of comparing such obsolete data, with that of 2009 and 2010 for other countries.

"Estimated indices are based on data from international sources that are supposed to allow comparison between countries; however for Rwanda, data used are often more than five years old.

"That actually means comparing countries at different periods of time, and still ranking them as if data referred to the same period, which is misleading and makes questionable any conclusion and/or comparison between countries," Rwangomba stated last evening.

He pointed out particular examples, such as the contraceptive prevalence rate, which the HDR put at 36, yet it currently stands at 45; "births attended by skilled health personnel were put at 52, while today it stands at 69; while women fertility rate was taken to be 5.3, while, in reality, it's 4.6."

"The methodology used in updating some of the data is not based on judgement within country context. It completely ignores developments at national level."

According to the Report, the proportion of Rwandans living under the poverty line is about 58.5 percent, a figure the Ministry of Finance says is even higher that the percentage of six years ago.

"Any assumption or results from this estimation can only be erroneous for Rwanda as it would mean increasing rates of poverty and inequality in Rwanda over the last five years or more; which everybody who knows Rwanda would agree as being unsound and in contradiction with trends," Rwangombwa added.

Explaining about Rwanda's ranking, the HDR states in part: "The most recent survey data that were publically available for Rwanda's MPI (Multidimensional Poverty Index) estimation refer to 2005."

It says that Rwanda has a Gender Inequality Index (GII) value of 0.453, ranking it 82 out of 146 countries in the 2011 index, adding that women hold 50.9 percent seats in the country's parliament - below the actual women representation in the House. It put Rwanda's life expectancy at 55.4 years.

In the 2010 HDR, Rwanda was ranked 152 out of 169 countries. "However, it is misleading to compare values and rankings with those of previously published reports, because the underlying data and methods have changed, as well as the number of countries included in the HDI," the report said.

Globally, it urges new approaches to development financing and environmental controls, stating that these measures were both essential and feasible, and that the challenges of sustainability and equity must be addressed together.

AllAfrica.com (click here)

Like Kofi, like Ban Nepotism returns to United Nations

By Judi McLeod

Canada Free Press

Original Source: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/328

Qualifiers bound to get you a “jammy job” at the high-handed, diplomatic immunity protected United Nations? Other than being a bureaucrat down to the core, it helps if you are mealy-mouthed, politically correct and good at hiding when challenging times demand decisions. Think Kofi Annan in Rwanda.

Well, as the French would say, the more things change the more things remain the same at the world’s largest bureaucracy.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s son, Kojo used Daddy’s name to get his green Mercedes sent back home to Ghana on the cheap, and somehow landed himself a job with a firm then connected to the Oil-for-Food scandal

According to UN watchdog Inner City Press, rookie UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s son-in-law Siddarth Chatterjee has been announced as his wife’s father’s chief of staff.

Inner City Press picked up “a small item” about this latest UN nepotism from the Washington Post and ran the gamut on it.

That’s Ban’s fancy footwork in the looking after the family department.

In the Getting by with a Little Help from my Friends Department, there’s Ban’s former colleague in the South Korean foreign ministry, Choi Young-jin, recently named Ban’s envoy to the Ivory Coast.

The UN, which relies more on the media communique than even the U.S. government, teaches all “spokespeople” how to handle embarrassing questions from the media.

“For weeks it had been rumored that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s son-in-law would get a high post with the UN in Iraq, and that Mr. Ban’s former colleague in the South Korean foreign ministry, Choi Young-jin, would be named Ban’s envoy to the Ivory Coast.” (Inner City Press, Oct. 19, 2007). “About the latter, Inner City Press asked Ban’s spokesperson Michele Montas, after hearing from Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo that the envoy had been mutually selected. Ms. Montas had no comment at the time. Then on October 18, the Choi appointment was announced, and the following morning’s Washington Post carried a small item noting that Ban’s Iraq envoy Steffan de Mistura is naming Ban’s son-in-law Siddarth Chatterjee as his chief of staff. There are stories behind each, portions of which we’ll endeavor to tell in this end-of-week column.

“On Friday Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas about Chattterjee’s appointment in Iraq, and she responded that it is strictly a matter between Mr. de Mistura and Chatterjee, that it is a lateral move and not a promotion, and that “we feel the publication of any information that increases the risk to any staff member and to the mission as a whole is not very helpful.”

”Inner City Press asked, “Are you saying that the Washington Post’s publication puts the mission at risk?”

“I’m saying what I said,” Mrs. Montas replied.

“An aside: Inner City Press often takes and presents UN Spokesperson Montas’ objections to the legitimacy of questions at face value. But in this case, we have reason to believe, and have decided to report, that the responsibility for the above-quoted dig at press freedom lies on the 38th Floor, and not the third (where the Spokesperson’s Office is housed). Apparently from the highest levels, attempts were made that this widely-rumored story not be published.

“But since it is journalistically legitimate, even imperative, to report on what some are calling possible nepotism in public institutions, security concerns would have militated (sic) against this assignment of the Secretary-General’s son-in-law to Iraq.

“`It’s a big world,’” as one source fearing retaliation put it, adding that Chatterjee was initially going to be promoted from P-5 up into the “D” ranks, but that it was decided to forego this for now, to present the move as lateral.

“The subtext to Ms. Montas’ statement that this was a matter between Mr. de Mistura and Mr. Chatterjee is that these fearful insiders report that Mr. de Mistura made the appointment in order to curry favor on the 38th floor, just as, the sources say, he previously hired the son of Kofi Annan’s close aide Iqbal Riza. What makes it unrealistic to expect this story not to be explored is that de Mistura was so recently given the Iraq envoy post.

“The new envoy to the Ivory Coast, Choi Young-jin, assumes a difficult position. The previous two envoys were essentially thrown out by president Gbagbo after they pushed to compliance with the elections time-table and spoke about corruption. While it is said that Gbagbo initially rejected the suggestion of Choi as the new envoy, his subsequently changed position leads many to question how assertive he will be about compliance with the revised elections time-line, to say nothing of corruption.”

The United Nations has proven it is the kind of place where, when the first sign of corruption raises its ugly head, friends are called in to investigate.

Paul Volcker, who headed up the Independent Inquiry Commission into the Oil-for-Food scandal, held a seat on Power Corp’s international advisory board. Power’s founding father, Paul Desmarais is a major shareholder and director of TotalFinaElf, the biggest oil corporation in France, which has held tens of billions of dollars in contracts with the deposed regime of Saddam Hussein--originators of the largest scandal in world history.

Meanwhile over at Turtle Bay, the age-old axiom “like father, like son” could have added, like Kofi, like Ban.

Germany: U.N. Employee Accused of Role in Rwanda

A former United Nations employee accused of killing some of his colleagues and others during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 has been arrested in Frankfurt, and the German authorities are considering his extradition to Rwanda, a prosecutor said Wednesday. The suspect, Callixte Mbarushimana, was arrested Monday at the Frankfurt airport as he tried to board a plane for St. Petersburg, Russia, according to the prosecutor, Volkmar Kallenbach. Mr. Mbarushimana, a 44-year-old Rwandan Hutu, has been accused in Rwanda of genocide and crimes against humanity, Mr. Kallenbach said. He added that Mr. Mbarushimana disputes the charges.