ROME – The FAO evaluation division director has alarmed observers by appointing a friend in Washington as a liason and evaluation officer at sky-high paid P-5 grade on the agency’s gravy train who evidently has zero experience in the United Nations or the department at large, FAO sources say.

 “The conflict is that liason means mingling with day to day work with the organization and contradicts with the oversight function of evaluation,” a well-placed source told the Insider. “In addition that friend has zero experience in the UN or the department at large.”

 “Besides being in Washngton what benefit will the office and staff get in terms of learning or support?”

  FAO watchers are concerned that Chinese communist director general Qu Dongyu is delegating authority to  the Argentine-American evaluation division director, Clemencia Cosentino, who Italian Insider reported has become unpopular with staff for her authoritarian leadership style and bullying of underlings.

 “The delegation of authority given to that director is just being abused on a daily basis,” said the source, speaking on condition they not be named.

 “The funny thing is if there was a strong human resources department that carefully reviewed these jobs’ description and was not intimidated by the director then nothing like this would happen.”

 Qu has stopped short of intervening to quell the deep morale crisis in the evaluation department caused by the brutal style of leadership there, however.

 On the contrary he has approved an increase in the pay rate of one of the director’s chief henchwomen, Valentina Di Marco Conte, whose daily rate as a consultant has been jacked up from dlrs 450 to a whopping dlrs 520 a day despite the conflict of interest of her frequently working together with her husband, a senior officer at the FAO, the sources said.

 jf