OPINION

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - A high level ‘independent’ panel created to enhance the effectiveness of UN-Habitat has proposed the creation of a rival body, called UN Urban, that will take on a large part of UN-Habitat’s work if approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The creation of a separate body to coordinate the sustainable urbanization agenda, which has been the role of UN-Habitat since 1978, will have a major impact on the United Nation’s presence in Kenya.

It would mean major job cuts for Kenyan and expatriate staff working at UN-Habitat.  And these cuts will affect Kenya’s economy, particularly in Nairobi. The effects will not be limited to losses of millions of dollars in foreign income, but will also extend to income losses by those employed (4000) by UN staff, landlords, shops, restaurants, tourist facilities and many others.

The downsizing may go beyond UN-Habitat.  It will also affect the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), created primarily to provide services to UNEP and UN-Habitat, the two UN agencies headquartered in Nairobi.  Currently Kenya is the only developing country to host the Headquarters of United Nations agencies.  The whole UN complex in Nairobi houses over 4,000 staff.  If UN Urban is created in New York, and UN-Habitat is significantly downsized, the need to maintain a large UN Office at Nairobi to service the two agencies, UNEP and UN-Habitat, in Gigiri will diminish.   

The move to create UN Urban comes at a time when the United Nations system is undergoing major reforms aimed at cutting costs to achieve greater efficiency.  These reforms include moving all UN regional offices to the cities where the UN regional commissions are located. In the case of Africa, this would mean moving the UN regional offices located in Kenya to Addis Ababa where the UN Economic Commission is based.

With the move of regional offices and the downsizing of UN-Habitat, the justification for a large UN presence in Kenya will be greatly reduced.  Indeed, there have been past attempts to move UNEP to Europe, but these have been resisted successfully in the past and the government of Kenya played a critical role in keeping the organization in Nairobi.

Some see the hand of the current Head of UN-Habitat, Joan Clos, investigated for racist comments last year, as spearheading the effort to create the rival UN Urban body in New York as his term comes to an end at the end of this year.  He is already making moves to place his cronies in New York and is believed to have constituted the panel that has come up with this recommendation.

The panel report also recommends reducing the level of country programmes on urbanization , which are most valued by developing countries which are rapidly becoming more urban.  It is ironic that the work of the United Nations is aimed at helping developing countries, yet there is resistance in maintaining the headquarters of just two of the UN agencies in the countries that have the greatest understanding of the development assistance that is needed.

Kenya and other developing countries need to send a clear and united message to the Secretary General that our countries are capable, have the facilities, and have the intellectual capacity to contribute positively to coordinating important sustainable development goals.

Indeed, it is Kenya that produced Wangari Maathai ,an internationally renowned Kenyan environmental political activist and Nobel Laureate.  Let us hope the Secretary General, who has welcomed the creation of the rival UN Urban, will listen.

But the African Group representing African nations thinks the recommendations will not necessarily serve to strengthen UN-Habitat and enhance its effectiveness, efficiency, accountability and oversight, as envisioned in the New Urban Agenda.

They cautioned against taking decisions based on the assessment report until their implications are fully reviewed and understood, with full participation and concurrence of member states.

They pointed out that Africa remains optimistic that the reform process, launched at the Habitat III conference, will provide practical recommendations on how to enhance UN- Habitat, including its management and leadership model.

They noted that Africa, being one of the fastest urbanizing regions of the world needs for a UN-Habitat that is fit for purpose to facilitate the effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

African nations are opposed to the creation of UN Urban, saying that is not viable. They recommend strengthening existing mechanisms, including the New York office of UN-Habitat, as a liaison office with other UN entities with converging mandates, resulting in increased efficiency and enhanced policy integration while avoiding duplication.

They argued,“UN Urban would create an additional layer of unnecessary bureaucracy and will have financial implications that contradict the general trend of zero budget growth within the UN. It would also complicate and duplicate operations rather than simplify them, in a manner that is counter productive and contributes to weakening UN-Habitat rather than strengthening it.”

According to them, the proposed governance reform package is complicated, inefficient and expensive; it is also self-contradictory and does not in any way contribute to strengthening UN-Habitat.