In
UN
Budget Fight,
Ban's Change
Management
Mistrusted,
Vote
Called
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 2,
updated -- The
UN Budget
Committee was
supposed to
close
this resumed
session at 3
pm on Monday.
But even at 5
pm, as
Bhutan's
event on
happiness as
an economic
indicator
continued,
Budget
Committee
delegates
milled around
waiting for
the outcome of
a small
meeting of
Permanent
Representatives
in a small
room next to
the
Bhutanese
event.
Those
inside
included the
Permanent
Representative
of Algeria,
the chair of
the
Group of 77
and China, US
Ambassador Joe
Torsella, the
EU and UK
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Philip Parham.
As he left,
Parham
told Inner
City Press
that things
might come to
a vote.
When
the Committee
convened,
three drafts
were
circulated: on
the Capital
Master Plan
and its $433
million cost
over run, on
the Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services and
makings its
audits
available
online, and an
"Accountability,"
mostly
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
so-called
Change
Management
Plan.
The fight is
one of
separation of
powers: how
much can Ban
do or try to
do without
General
Assembly
consent?
Before
discussion
of these three
documents
began, Inner
City Press was
told the leave
the room, that
it was an
"informal"
session. This
seemed
strange, since
what chairman
Tommo Monthe
said might
constitute a
sort of
legislative
history of
what was voted
on.
In
interviews
just
outside the
conference
room, Inner
City Press
gleaned that
after
Monthe's
"plea," Russia
spoke and
called the
Change
Management
paragraph 7
unbalanced.
The chair of
G-77 said much
the
same thing.
Inner
City Press
can report
that the G-77
chair was
summoned over
to Monthe, who
suggested an
amendment. The
G-77 chair
said he would
have to
consult;
he was willing
to stay but it
was just a
vote, anyone
can vote.
Soon
the meeting
was suspended
for 20
minutes, and
G-77 convened
in a room
across the
hall. It
seemed the
vote was on,
concerning
what some call
Ban
Ki-moon's
coup. Watch
this site.
Update
of 8:36 pm -
as delegates
gathered to
vote, Chairman
Monthe came
and told Inner
City Press
there will be
a vote on
section 2 of
Accountability,
first on an
amendment.
There will be
no vote on his
proposed
compromise.
"Malcorra
would come"
and give
assurances,
but this
wasn't
believed
either. A
well-placed
delegate told
Inner City
Press, "this
is the test
for Malcorra."
One of her
supporters by
contrasted
called it a
"task." If
only one could
do that in
school....
, 
