WASHINGTON — If you believe that United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan is very smart, as I do, consider what
a prodigy his son is. In 1995, at the age of 22, Kojo Annan found
employment at Cotecna Inspection SA, a multinational firm based in
Geneva, Switzerland. Its responsibilities have been awesome — and
I do not use the term in the trendy, vacuous way American teenagers
use the term, or American news anchors for that matter. Cotecna SA,
among other things, has had the duty of inspecting humanitarian aid
sent to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq as part of the oil-for-food scam of
the 1990s. Young Kojo was right there on the scene, making sure
things were up to snuff.
Now there is controversy. When Mr. Annan left the employment of
Cotecna SA in 1997 he served as a consultant for modest
remuneration. Naturally, given his proven expertise, he received
still more payments from Cotecna SA as a consultant, to wit, a
monthly check for $2,500 as a “no compete” payment. Possibly
Cotecna SA believed that Kojo, now 25, would become a powerful
competitor to Cotecna SA, though I would have thought that
unseemly. Kojo’s father is Secretary-General of the United Nations,
the very body that Cotecna SA was working for. At any rate, Kojo
did not compete with Cotecna SA, and presumably Cotecna SA
thrives.
Yet now there is controversy. United Nations officials thought
that Kojo’s $2,500 ended with his consultancy in 1998. Now it is
revealed that the “no compete” checks continued until February
2003. “Naturally, I was very disappointed,” the Secretary-General
told reporters the other day, “and surprised, yes.” Quite right,
get that “surprised” in there, Mr. Secretary-General. The
Secretary-General has also said that “I have no involvement with
granting of contracts, either on this Cotecna one [doubtless he is
referring to Cotecna SA] or others.” That is untrue says Claudia
Rosett, the journalist who has done the most to expose the
oil-for-food scandal and general corruption of the United Nations.
Knowledgeable as she is of the organized criminality that is the
United Nations, Miss Rosett reports that “the contract that Mr.
Annan referred to as ‘this Cotecna one’…belonged to the
handful signed by the U.N. Secretariat.” It was “handled by the
U.N. Procurement Division. And the U.N. Procurement Division
reports to the secretary-general.” That is to say, to Mr. Annan
père.
There is still more controversy swirling around another person
close to Secretary-General Annan. His hand-picked director of the
oil-for-food program’s oversight agency, Mr. Benon Sevan, was
reportedly on the take from the Saddam’s government. A U.S. Senate
Committee has documents taken by our forces from the Iraqi oil
ministry showing that Mr. Sevan received allotments of oil from
Iraq worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, perhaps millions.
Abuse was rampant in the oil-for-food program. Senate investigators
believe that more that $21 billion may have gone back to Saddam’s
regime and some of those funds may be financing the insurgency we
face today. Moreover the United Nations is facing charges of
misbehavior worldwide: peacekeeping troops accused of rape and
extortion, United Nations officials failing to protect civilians in
the Sudan, and even sexual harassment and favoritism back at United
Nations headquarters in New York.
Obviously it is time for young Kojo’s father to go. The United
Nations has been a tabernacle of hypocrisy for decades. The racism
it has practiced against unfavored nations, for instance, Israel,
is well known. The corruption is now impossible to ignore. The
departure of Kofi Annan should be the first gesture at reform, but
much more is needed. The halls of United Nations headquarters crawl
with conspiracy. During the Cold War the conspiring was done mainly
for political advantage. Now it is for that and for lucrative
deals. There will be needed many more retirements before the United
Nations’ integrity is restored. For now our government ought to be
demanding reform and refusing to send this corrupt institution any
more money until reform begins.
For months I have marveled at news stories reporting Bill
Clinton’s interest in some day having Kofi Annan’s job. Now, having
scrutinized the murky doings of the United Nations, I think I
understand. Chelsea might need a job. How is this for a deal? If
Mr. Annan retires, we promise not to send Bill Clinton to take his
place. Rather we shall get both Clintons a job at Cotecna SA.
