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Download PDF UNDP Country Director Manoj Basnyat is on his way out under controversial circumstances nearly two years before schedule.
His departure comes hot on the heels of a vote of no confidence in him by his staff in a recent survey and several unofficial government complaints about his interference in development projects.
The UNDP Global Staff Survey 2007 for Bangladesh obtained by The Daily Star shows that 86 percent of international staff and 62 percent of local staff at UNDP Bangladesh had no confidence in their country director.
The survey also shows that 57 percent international staff and 30 percent local staff at UNDP offices here feel that procurement is not done transparently at their offices while 71 percent international staff and 52 percent local staff said recruitment was also not done in accordance with the UNDP rules and regulations.
Both the government and the UN, however, officially denied that Basnyat’s departure is due to government pressure or the “survey fallout” within the UNDP.
UN Resident Coordinator Renata Lok Dessallien told The Daily Star last night that Manoj is “simply being posted somewhere else because he is needed there”.
Basnyat could not be contacted for his comments.
Manoj Basnyat, who is currently on a three-week leave, came to take up the newly created post of country director of Bangladesh for United Nations Development Programme in December 2006.
Usually, a UN permanent staff is assigned to a post for minimum three years, which can be extended to five years.
Sources said Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury “informally discussed” the change of country director with Desallien during a meeting Monday morning.
But Desallien said the issue has never been discussed during any meeting with government officials.
A UNDP spokesperson told The Daily Star that the high disapproval rate for Basnyat is a direct result of a radical overhaul of the UNDP offices here, which included sacking or retrenchment of 45-50 percent of their staff.
The UNDP undertook the massive changes after competency exams carried out by its New York headquarters found nearly half of the staff in Dhaka were not up to scratch, according to the spokesperson.
The laid-off staff that had worked for the UNDP for more than five years received golden handshake.
The spokesperson claimed the aggrieved staff participated in the survey and may have even manipulated the data by completing the questionnaire multiple times. Mostly local staff were retrenched during the overhaul.
Meanwhile, government sources said several ministries have expressed their grievances about the UNDP and Basnyat’s “interference” over the last year.
One senior government official dealing with the UN told The Daily Star that differences of opinion between the UNDP and the government arose over a number of projects.
“The country director’s lack of cooperation delayed the procurement and progress of several projects,” said an official, adding, “Over time this even led to the cancellation of a project.”
Authorities stopped short of officially going to the UNDP with the complaints as they thought this would cause unnecessary diplomatic hassle, according to high-level government sources.
Basnyat’s alleged heavy-handed treatment in dealing with certain projects was also resented by some government officials.
But, Dessallien said, “He [Basnyat] has been lauded by several government agencies because he oversaw massive UN projects to assist in the voter registration, disaster response to the two floods and cyclone Sidr.”
Asked about the perception of non-transparent procurement and recruitment procedures, Dessallien said, “We have already had several independent international auditors looking into our procurement and none of them have found any signs of wrongdoing.”
She also said results of a partnership survey–in which the government, civil society, and donors assess UNDP’s performance–are yet to come, but a DFID survey placed UNDP as the organisation most preferred by government officials.
Dessallien also said the UNDP successfully accommodated massive unplanned projects such as helping in voter registration with photos and cyclone Sidr.
The UNDP spent $55 million in its development projects in Bangladesh last year.
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