| UN PGA
Abdulla Shahid Hides Funding of Staff
Funding But Flies to COP26 As Press Banned
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
UN GATE, Oct 31 –
After UN President of the
General Assembly John Ashe was
indicted for taking bribes
from Chinese government
businessman Ng Lap Seng, and
died before trial, the UN's
lone reform was to say that
future PGAs would disclose how
each of their their staff
members were funded, and by
whom.
And now, even
that insufficient reform is
not being complied with. As of
October 31, under staff,
rather than lists who pays
whom, Shahid says "Information
on the staff of the Office of
the President The staff of the
Office of the President of the
General Assembly (OPGA) are
identifiable through their
biographies on the website."
This makes a mockery of
transparency, and violates the
post-Ashe commitment. And the
Press that asks about ongoing
UN corruption is
banned.
On September 16
Inner City Press wrote to new
PGA Abdulla Shahid's
spokesperson Monica Grayley,
"state when you will put on
the PGA website the financial
and staffing information
committed to after the
indictment of then PGA John
Ashe."
It asked for
confirmation of receipt, and a
copy of the list of speakers
for the UNGA High Level Week.
Neither was provided, nor any
response on what Shahid,
Maldives' foreign minister,
will do to ensure access to
"his" UNGA by the Press which
asks these questions.
Instead, with the
Press still banned, Shahid on
October 31 in Glasgow
pontificated: "We must be
honest about this, with
ourselves, with each other,
and with the rest of the
world." Honest?
How can the
Press be banned? Corrupt
There is a
pending application to the UN
Media Accreditation and
Liaison Unit, acknowledged
(unlike PGA Shahid's Grayley)
but not acted on.
On September 17,
with the "Team" section of PGA
Shahid's website still empty,
Inner City Press wrote to two
other staffers in the PGA's
office, Carl Mercer
Lead, Communications, Advocacy
& Speechwriting and Ahmed
Salman Zaki, Executive
Assistant to the PGA. Also
complicity in the censorship
of Press: Carl
Mercer Lead,
Communications, Advocacy &
Speechwriting. At the UN,
there are other more accurate
words to describe these
functions. Watch this site.
***
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