World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz on Sunday dug in his heels over the promotion he approved for his girlfriend and said he intends to stay in his job, even as bank member governments voiced "great concern" the institution might not be able to function properly.
"I believe in the mission of this organization and I believe that I can carry it out," Wolfowitz told a news conference shortly after the World Bank development committee issued a strongly worded statement conveying unease.
The committee of aid ministers from around the globe said it was crucial the bank's credibility not be tarnished by the controversy over the high-paying promotion Wolfowitz agreed for his girlfriend, bank employee Shaha Riza, before she was assigned to work at the State Department.
"The current situation is of great concern to all of us," the ministers said in a communique after the committee met.
"We have to ensure that the bank can effectively carry out its mandate and maintain its credibility and reputation as well as motivation of the staff," the ministers said.
In a news conference shortly after those tough words, Wolfowitz said a decision on the matter should be left to the bank's board of member countries.
"We need to work our way through this," he said. "The board is looking into the matter and we'll let them complete their work."
The former Pentagon No. 2 cited his accomplishments since taking the helm of the poverty-fighting lender in mid-2005, pointing at several projects in Africa, where he has found his strongest backing.
But the bank staff association renewed a call for Wolfowitz to quit.
"We do not see how he can possibly regain the trust of the staff," association chair Alison Cave said. "We don't see how he can regain the credibility that has been lost."
"I don't think he fully understands how much this has damaged the organization," she said.
European countries, including Britain and Germany, were the most vocal in making a case that the scandal threatened to cripple the bank.
In an interview, the Dutch Development Minister Bert Koenders said he believed the row had put the bank into a crisis situation that needed to be resolved quickly.
"It has become clear to us ... that there is also a lack of trust at the moment in the leadership and in the management. So, that is something that has to be resolved," he said.
"It was important to lay down the line. And the fact that the United States itself accepted it reinforces the message," German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul told reporters.
"An institution like the World Bank lives by its moral authority and its credibility," she said.
The New York Times yesterday called for the ouster of Wolfowitz, saying he should step down since he had championed good governance and has "fallen far short of his own standards."
"What might Mr Wolfowitz himself say if he discovered that a government receiving World Bank loans was making similar sweet arrangements for the personal friends of its president?" the paper asked.
"There is no way Mr Wolfowitz can recover his credibility and continue to be effective at the bank," it said.
The European Commission also voiced their concern yesterday and expressed the hope that the scandal would not affect cooperation.
"We hope this will be dealt with in a proper way. We hope that this will not affect our cooperation, which is increasing and which is crucial" for developing countries especially in Africa, said Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, spokesman for EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel.
"We are concerned about the institution, we are concerned about these allegations of course, and we are monitoring this," he told reporters in Brussels.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia