Over the last month or so, we’ve kept you up to date on the spate of attacks on Ban Ki-moon’s leadership at the UN and his responses. Ban’s willingness to address criticism – and accept that it is sometimes justified – has been impressive. This round of criticism has arguably had at least one positive effect: it has made the Secretary-General face up to the accusation (highlighted in the Economist piece that set the ball rolling) that he is a poor communicator. He has been communicating like crazy, and may have emerged as a stronger leader as a result.
The spirit of openness appears to have convulsed Ban’s advisers. A bunch of senior officials are quoted in an AFP piece out today. They’re loyal, but not cautious:
Ban’s aides view some of the criticism against their boss as grossly unfair and portray him as a compassionate workaholic whom they admire for his decency, integrity and fierce dedication to his job.
Nicholas Haysom, a South African who is one of Ban’s key advisers, thinks the issue of Ban’s lack of charisma is overblown. And “suggestions that he’s not outspoken, not very visible are simply wrong and not borne out by the evidence,” Haysom said. “On humanitarian crises and conflicts, he has been extremely active. The truth is that he’s not always reported, not always heard.”
Much has been said about Ban’s struggle with the English language.
“English is not his mother tongue so he sometimes appears scripted, stiff and uninspiring,” his spokeswoman Michele Montas admitted. “But he communicates in ways that are unfamiliar in the West and I think there is a cultural gap here,” she added.
Robert Orr, an American who is one of his top policy-makers, says of Ban’s English: “It’s a handicap but not a fatal flaw.”
“I’m not worried by the fact that he is not the most eloquent as long as he produces results,” he added.
“He is influenced by his diplomatic background,” says Haysom. “He put a premium on direct engagement. Face-to-face, he is effective, direct and straightforward.”
Orr said Ban’s major achievement is that he has brought the 21st century issues of climate change, global health and food security into the heart of the UN agenda. He added that his boss deserves credit for his willingness to take risks in undertaking missions that no other world leader could.
Orr said relations between the UN and Washington have significantly improved in large part thanks to Ban. “He has already produced a very different approach from the US Congress toward the UN both in terms of funding and a dramatic uptick in US payment to the UN,” Orr added.
Is it now UN policy to brand Ban as “reassuringly dull”? Or is the heat of the (much delayed) New York summer getting to people?
