UN-Habitat employees in Nairobi protest over boss attitude, racism

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

A file photo of Machakos Governor Dr. Alfred Mutua with UN-Habitat Executive Director Dr. Joan Clos the site of the proposed new Machakos City in 2014. Photo/File

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UN-Habitat boss Joan Clos is caught in a racial storm as staff at the Gigiri offices have accused him of misconduct and abusive behaviour.

A section of UN-Habitat staff in Nairobi have sent a strongly worded and lengthy letter of complaint to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, demanding Clos be suspended and investigated.

UN-Habitat spokesman Gordon Weiss yesterday confirmed that they had received a copy of the letter and were first checking the allegations and would respond today.

The staff has accused Clos, a former mayor of Barcelona, Spain, of racism, abuse of authority and harassment.

The employees, through lawyer Setondji Roland Adjovi, who is representing them for free, accused Clos of being “extremely uncomfortable with Africans” and denigrating Kenyans.

They said the UN-Habitat Executive Director described Nairobi’s traffic challenges as a “phenomenon that came about because there are no serious people who can think”.

He is also alleged to have told staff of the Japan International Cooperation Agency to their face that their work is “absolutely bullshit”.

“JICA are going around giving master plans to African cities. I have been asked by some African mayors to explain to them what these Japanese mean in their master plans. What JICA is doing is bullshit: I repeat, it’s absolutely bulshit,” he is reported to have said.

UN–Habitat is the United Nations Agency for Human Settlements and Sustainable Urban Development.

Headquartered in Nairobi, it is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

The petition paints the UN-Habitat boss as a man who does not believe in the UN’s ability to deliver.

For example, he is alleged to have said that a typical UN staffer is too polite, too diplomatic and only good at writing page after page and compiling things.

If the allegations reported are confirmed, Clos should give a public apology, be
made to attend racial multicultural classes or summarily dismissed, the staffers said.

To prove their case, they attached a list of 56 people from different countries who could be witnesses against Clos.

Clos, a medical doctor, was twice elected mayor of Barcelona, serving two terms from 1997 until 2006.

He was minister of Industry, Tourism, and Trade of Spain between 2006 and 2008. Prior to joining the UN, he served as the Spanish Ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan.

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