Wolfowitz wrap up: Saturday April 14

15 April 2007

Summaries of some recent press and civil society commentaries on embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz

Press

• Top Wolfowitz Postings Went to Iraq War Backers, by Emad Mekay and Jim Lobe, IPS, April 13, 2007 (IPS website). Authors show that a disturbingly high number of Wolfowitz's senior political appointments formerly worked with governments supported the US-led invasion of Iraq.  
• European nations pile pressure on Wolfowitz, April 15, 2007, Reuters (Reuters website). While Hilary Benn and Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul have remarked on the damage this affair has caused the institution, some African ministers are speaking out in defense of the President.
• Wolfowitz Seeks African Leaders’ Backing, by Steven R. Weisman, New York Times, April 14, 2007 (NY Times website). Speculates that Wolfowitz is promoting the support he's received from African nations to counter attacks from European representatives. Also notes that many Board members are willing to abide by the Board's judgement.
• Principle and Practice: Wolfowitz’s credibility as head of the World Bank is spent, The Times, April 14, 2007 (Times Online). Calls for Wolfowitz to step down, arguing that he must be held to the same standards he has given lip service to inside the institution.

Civil society comments

• Riza Failed to Get Approval for Working at SAIC: Sources Claim Her Work at US Defense Contractor is a Gross Violation of Bank Rules. Government Accountability Project press release, April 6, 2007. The Government Accountability Project (GAP) has learned that Shaha Riza, long-time companion of World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz and fellow Bank staffer, did not receive Bank approval for outside employment as a consultant for a major U.S. defense contractor during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Inside sources at the Bank have verified to GAP that Riza never applied for nor received permission to provide these consultant services to SAIC. This is a gross violation of World Bank staff rules, which require Bank employees to clear extracurricular professional activities with the Outside Interests Committee in order to prevent conflicts of interest. Such undisclosed parallel employment, GAP sources say, would never have been tolerated by the Bank and are grounds for dismissal.
• Time For A Change At The World Bank, by Nancy Birdsall, Center for GLobal Development, April 13, 2007 (www.cgdev.org)
  "Today finance and development ministers from around the world gather in Washington for the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They will not be talking about reform at the World Bank, or about the singular challenge of ending poverty and transforming the societies where five out of every six people in the world live. They will be talking about the tangle of messes surrounding Paul Wolfowitz...If only for that reason, it would be better now for Mr. Wolfowitz to resign -- for the benefit of the institution that he serves, and for the billions of people that that it serves. He has become a distraction not a leader at a moment when leadership is sorely needed. There are other reasons, too. With shareholders and staff questioning his judgment on the conflict of interest issue he cannot lead by influence and inspiration, as the World Bank's global mission so obviously requires."
• www.worldbankpresident.org is up and running!

And just for laughs, read the World Bank President job description that circulated today.