UNDP
Overspent $7M
on Afghan
Police,
"Overriding"
As UN Asks for
More
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive, 9th
in Series
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 14 -- UN
system
officials
including UN
Women talk
about
Afghanistan
without
addressing the
System's
demonstrated
corruption
there.
But this
ninth
installment of
Inner City
Press'
exclusive
series shows
that
the UN
Development
Program's Law
& Order
Trust Fund for
Afghanistan overspent by over $7
million on
"police
remuneration"
and $4 million
on
"procurement
of non-lethal
equipments."
For
the UN's
credibility,
however, these
unrebutted
internal audit
may
well be
lethal. Click
here to view
"Observation
#9," which
blames the
overruns on
"intentional
overriding of
internal
controls and
or human
error."
Who
is being held
accountable
for these
errors /
"intentional
overridings of
internal
controls"?
While these
questions go
unanswered, at
its July 13
noon briefing
the UN asked
for more money
and
speechified:
"The
Office
for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs says
Afghans are
facing an
uncertain
future,
despite
improvements
in education,
health
care and
political
participation
over the past
decade. The
departure
of foreign
troops will
reduce
economic
activity,
State revenues
and
foreign aid,
putting the
development
gains of the
last decade at
risk
and
exacerbating
humanitarian
needs in one
of the poorest
countries
in the world.
The Office
notes that the
current
consolidated
appeal
for
Afghanistan
for this year
calls for $448
million to
implement 165
projects
across the
country.
Halfway
through the
year, this
appeal
is only 30 per
cent funded."
Could
the UN's
unaddressed
corruption
have something
to do with
this
resistance to
give it more
money? And for
Michele
Bachellet,
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
read out that
"Afghanistan
has
been
witnessing
cases of
extreme abuse
and appalling
violence
against women.
These actions
have sparked
national and
international
outrage, and
have once
again focused
attention on
the continuing
and
urgent need to
protect
women's and
girls' rights
as the world
redefines its
role in
Afghanistan,
and as the
Government of
Afghanistan
moves forward
in
transition."
Bachelet
is reputed
to get things
done -- maybe
SHE should
oversee the
UN's response
to
and clean up
of Afghanistan
operations,
now that she
has spoken
about
the country.
, 
