Former senior staff call for Wolfowitz to Resign
Financial Times
World Bank letter Signators
April 22 2007
Gautam Kaji, former Managing Director
Peter Woicke, former Managing Director and EVP
Shengman Zhang, former Managing Director
Roberto Danino, former senior VP and general counsel
Gary Perlin, former Senior VP and CFO
Jean-Louis Sarbib, former senior VP
Shahid Javed Burki, former VP
Cesare Calari, former VP
David de Ferranti, former VP
Ian Goldin, former VP
Ian Johnson, former VP
Geoffrey Lamb, former VP
Johannes Linn, former VP
Callisto Madavo, former VP
Gobind Nankani, former VP
Christiaan Poortman, former VP
Jean-François Rischard, former VP
Jo Ritzen, former VP
Richard Stern, former VP
John Wilton, former VP
Michael Barth, former Director
Amar Bhattacharya, former Senior Adviser
Gerard Caprio, former Director
Michael Carter, former Director
Dennis de Tray, former Director
Paula Donovan, former Director
Marisa Fernandez-Palacios, former Director
Charles Griffin, former Director
Jean-Philippe Halphen, former Director
Ann Hamilton, former Director
Paul Isenman, former Director
Homi Kharas, former Regional chief economist
Harinder Kohli, former Director
Olivier Lafourcade, former Director
Philippe Liétard, former Director
Serge Michailof, former Direector
Bernard Pasquier, former Director
Manuel Penalver Quesada, former Director
Enrique Rueda-Sabater, former Director
Alexander Shakow, former Director
Karl Voltaire, former Director
See Comments for full text of letter
3 comments:
Text of World Bank letter
April 22 2007
To the Editor of the Financial Times,
For the good of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz should resign
Sir,
We are a group of ex-World Bank Group staff who occupied senior positions in the institution (MDs, Senior VPs, VPs, Directors), and write in our personal capacities. Some of us have worked under Paul Wolfowitz, some of us have not, but all of us are watching with great concern the ongoing events at the Bank because of their impact on development and the interests of the poor. At a time when fighting poverty remains crucial in building a more hopeful, more balanced, and more secure world, the World Bank must remain credible if it is to speak with the moral authority necessary to move the poverty agenda forward.
For the Bank to succeed, it must be effective, especially on matters of good governance which Mr. Wolfowitz rightly emphasized as crucial to poverty reduction. What staff objected to was not the principle -- which they applauded. Rather it was that the policy was implemented with no consultation, and little transparency or apparent consistency. Now, as a result of a process of broad consultation that he was forced to undertake by the Board, Mr. Wolfowitz has been able to forge a consensus on how to raise the bar on corruption in a practical way. It is this that can serve as a lasting legacy at the Bank.
Mr. Wolfowitz says he believes in the mission of the Bank and wishes to continue. We believe that he can no longer be an effective leader. He has lost the trust and respect of Bank staff at all levels, provoked a rift among senior managers, developed tense relations with the Board, damaged his own credibility on good governance –his flagship issue, and alienated some key shareholders at a time when their support is essential for a successful replenishment of the resources needed to help the poorest countries, especially in Africa.
We have taken note of the fact that the ministers who met last weekend in Washington took the unusual step of expressing publicly their great concern about the situation in the Bank. And staff and some of our senior colleagues within the Bank have advised Mr. Wolfowitz that the best course of action for the future of the Bank would be for him to step down. This painful, unprecedented action was not a rash conclusion. We support it and salute the courage of our colleagues. Like them, we believe this is a regrettable but essential step to prevent the Bank’s effectiveness as a development institution, and its credibility as the international community’s trustee of resources for fighting poverty, from being fatally compromised. There is only one way for Mr. Wolfowitz to further the mission of the Bank: he should resign.
It is very encouraging to hear the voices of the former Directors and Managers to this very grave issue. I trust that they will push for results and will not give up. Mr. Wolfowitz must resign if he indeed cares about the institution and its mission as he claims... At least, he will go on the record as someone who finally has learned to practice what s/he preaches.
I'm sure that the numbers of signees will grow by the hour, as they should.
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