IFAD president faces stormy Executive Board sessions over corruption, whistleblower protection

 ROME -- A group of five concerned members of the IFAD Executive Board have requested meetings with heads of key units at the troubled UN agency to discuss the need for more transparency and whistleblower protection, IFAD sources say. They plan to bring the matter to upcoming meetings of the Board session now under way.

 The first meeting of the IFAD Executive Board started Monday but was mainly focussed on routine operational items, they said.

 A key moment is expected to be a meeting on Sept. 9 of IFAD’s convenors and friends.

 By then IFAD watchers expect to know the names of any possible new candidates who will oppose Spanish President Alvaro Lario’s bid for election to a second term in charge of the development bank for small farmers.

 Following investigative reporting by the Italian Insider and speculation that the people involved in the investigations are pressuring IFAD to take legal action against the Insider, IFAD staff and representatives of partner organisations in the private sector, have come forward offering their support with testimonies, documentation and pictures to back up the statements made in the articles by the Insider.

 “The articles in the Insider made me realise that the damage done to my company as a result of the corruption ruling IFAD at the moment is not isolated but a symptom of a more systematic illness  affecting how the organisation is operating,” a leader of a German private sector company in partnership with IFAD said.

 After the Governing Council, the Executive Board is IFAD’s second main governing body. Meeting three times a year, the Board oversees IFAD’s general operations and approves its programme of work. 

 The IFAD President chairs the Executive Board. There are 18 elected members and 18 alternate members, each serving a three-year term. Membership is determined by the Governing Council.  

 The Executive Board has several subsidiary bodies, including the Evaluation Committee, the Audit Committee and other ad-hoc working groups.

 The Board was meeting as Kenyan media disclosed a number of arrests over embezzlement of funds provided by IFAD.