Decision to replace Guarnieri on sky-high salary 'keeps WFP top heavy'

 ROME – The World Food Programme is advertising for a Deputy Executive Director to replace Valerie Guarnieri amid speculation she may have been “edged out” in a decision that observers says will keep the cash-strapped UN agency top heavy “while the little people are cut” and other ASGs without her operational experience continue “humanitarian tourism” in flak jackets.

 “They have four or five ASGs and they are chopping 6000 roles below that, meaning 27 percent of employees are being axed,” a senior WFP executive said. Ms Guarnieri, a feisty American with extensive experience in the field, is either retiring or leaving under terms of an Agreed Separation but either way WFP watchers question whether she needs to be replaced on the same sky high D2 package that she earned, estimated to be worth up to or more than dlrs 750,000 when all emoluments and fringe benefits are included.

 “If as WFP said they are cutting across all levels, don’t you think this is an ideal opportunity to take advantage of attrition, reorganize the top level or push some responsibilities down and dispense with an ASG?” the executive asked, speaking on condition he not be named.

 “That would make it easier for Cindy (McCain) to say we are truly cutting at all levels,” he added, “It doesn’t make the poor Italian workers who are chopped feel much better but at least it shows fairness and integrity.”

 “Instead, it now looks like the top dogs are looking after tjheir own level.”

 The cost of a replacement for Ms Guarnieri runs into hundreds of thousands because of post adjustment, employer’s pension contribution, and various allownaces, in addition to base gross salary.

“It does add up. How many lowly Italian consultants would that pay for, to ensure the place keeps running?” the executive asked.

“If the little people are being cut, why aren’t the big shots taking a hit?”

 “What about the poor local Italian consultants who don’t get all the extras of a P, have no pension or social security. The guys the HQ agreement should be referring to. The compact, explicit or otherwise, between WFP and the Italian State.”

“On top of that how many of the four ASGs have any real WFP experience? They may be bright and decent people, but the only one of them who has actually worked in real WFP operations is Valerie. She has run Country Offices and a major regional bureau. None of the others have.”

 “They do their trips, their ‘humanitarian tourism,’ photo ops in flak jackets. But that’s not field experience. Opinions are varied on her, not universally liked. But they are losing the only one at the top who really knows how things work. IS she being edged out? I wonder if her time in the Clinton White House has influenced her departure, though that was a very long time ago”

 It’s not just WFP. The top heaviness is being retained in the broader UN. “WFP is just doing what the big shots do everywhere in the UN,” the disgruntled executive noted with a sigh.