A senior Ethiopian diplomat has come under scrutiny following allegations that he used his connections within the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to secure employment for his daughter.

Berhane Gebre-Christos, special envoy to foreign missions for Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, is alleged to have leveraged his relationship with Tegegnework Gettu, then Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa, to facilitate the hiring and promotion of his daughter, Sallem Berhane. 

According to a report by Inner City Press, a website that conducts investigative journalism at the United Nations, Sallem Berhane joined UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa in 2013 as an individual contract holder, reportedly without going through a competitive selection process.

The report claims that the Ethiopian national Tegegnework Gettu has instructed his staff to facilitate Ms Berhane’s recruitment due to his close ties with her father. “During Structural Review, it was necessary to move Berhane to the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, following her supervisor Mr. Pedro Conceicao. In late 2016, again with no competitive recruitment process, Sallem was moved from BPPS to the Headquarter/UNDP’s Executive Office (New York) with the same individual contract status. Then, in 2017, she was offered P3 Fixed Term contract without due process, as no vacancy was advertised and none of the organizational recruitment processes were observed,” the report reads.

Inner City Press also reports concerns among staff members who fear potential retaliation for speaking out. The article accuses Tegegnework Gettu of acting in the interest of an official who had supported his own career and criticises his treatment of media inquiries, often responding in what it describes as a “bullying” manner. “What will Guterres do?” the article quotes him as saying, referring to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

(Photo: Berhane Gebre Christos is seen here greeting Venezuelan Chancellor DrodriguezVen.)