Unfortunately the world is not echoing enough what is written either by the members of the Board of Directors of the UNWTO or by the Secretary General of the Organization himself.
“There is no doubt that there are many question marks about the suspicious actions that have taken place for the benefit of the candidate from Georgia.
Why did the secretary-general of the organization not move yo clear up accusations of serious discrepancies that had supposedly taken place and what actions had taken place by the Georgian ambassador and the Zimbabwe Minister through the African Union in preparation for the UNWTO elections ..?
By :Ashraf El Gedawy
aTP- Arab tourism portal News- Cairo – After a period of silence, I think it is dubious, as described by some and unjustified by the World Tourism Organization and its secretary-general, Dr Talib Rifai, who is moving as previously described as the lame duck in the farce of choosing the Georgian ambassador in last May’s elections with Zimbabwe’s Walter Mzembi pressuring on his side to try to become Secretary General.
Before the final approval in Chendu China in September of the Georgian Ambassador, who is not related to the tourism or travel industry in any way as we have previously announced to the international tourism community through several press articles in the global tourism and travel industry, as well as relayed by television journalists on major international satellite channels, it is important to reflect with the tourism industry in mind.
Unfortunately the world is not echoing enough what is written either by the members of the Board of Directors of the UNWTO or by the Secretary General of the Organization himself.
Is it ignorance and ignorance due to lack of information in these, or is a disregard for the importance of the organization on their part to give the exact truth. Clear and frank questions do not find answers from the organizers of the World Tourism Organization, especially after revealing many facts and the disastrous situation in the process of elections, From the international news portal specialized in the tourism industry during the past weeks, the most prominent of which is the news report published on 9 August at “http://unwtowire.com” and this site specializes in the publication of the news of the organization .. and increase the emphasis on the truth of the story published in the press Under the title in English “Sworn statement: UNWTO nominee Zurab Pololi Kashvili conspired to attend restricted election meeting. As this was read a second article also in the UNWTOWIRE published by Geoffrey Lipman made interesting reading.
“There is no doubt that there are many question marks about the suspicious actions that have taken place for the benefit of the candidate from Georgia. The portal that published the story on its pages, also published a picture of the story as written by a famous journalist from Germany working at the Huffington Post In which he explained all the suspicious actions during the time when UNWTO was holding the elections in a hotel meeting room in Spain where the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization was held and the election of the new Secretary General as was scheduled.
Many questions were raised by the press colleagues in their report on the holding of the session for the elections in secret, and not allowing the journalists to be present for this meeting, which was found to be surprising eventhough the rules for the day was well circulated to member states of the UNWTO. Surprising also was the presence of a large group of Georgian diplomatic corps and Zimbabwe delegates in the lobby of the hotel in rather unusual meetings. The German journalists it seems noticed that Georgian delegation was keen to sit with a person holding a mobile phone. The assumption or insinuation that he is listening to another unknown person explaining to him what is going on inside the closed hall where the election is taking place is and will remain the German’s perception of the situation on hand.
In the end, it was clear that Georgia won the elections for the post of Secretary General of the UNWTO and that Zimbabwe lost the election with the Africa votes of ten plus one. The delegations present congratulated each other before announcing the final result to the members of the General Assembly of the Organization and to the journalists.
On that point, the story of the German journalist ends. But for the UNWTO questions remain submerged in a dark sea without answers to illuminate the way. Does the UNWTO need a revision of its Nomination procedures for the post of Secretary General and do they need a revision of the election procedures. Why were the journalists expelled from the election hall?
What is the role of the Georgian delegation in this election that was held in secret? And who was talking to the Georgian delegation on the mobile phone? and also needed is Zimbabwe implications in the African Union call for the Seychelles candidate to see his candidacy come to an end just before the elections took place. Is the African Union voting en block acceptable thus removing the democratic right of member states. Is an endorsement a dictatorial imposition as Africa witnessed.
Why did the secretary-general of the organization not move yo clear up accusations of serious discrepancies that had supposedly taken place and what actions had taken place by the Georgian ambassador and the Zimbabwe Minister through the African Union in preparation for the UNWTO elections ..?
Are there any of the actions and also the threous economic sanctions that are ambiguous for the secretary-general of the organization?
Why not declare this in front of the world of tourism ..?
Why is there no transparent investigation carried out through a committee formed by the World Tourism Organization’s board of ministers, as well as the secretary-general of the organization and investigating the facts of the elections and the conduct of the electoral process?
Also begin to set new standards and controls for the selection of Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization instead of outdated controls that do not fit now for the important position ..!
Taleb Rifai will be in the chair at the General Assembly in China in September when the question of confirming Georgia as Secretary General will be put to all member states present. Could we also see new nomination procedures tabled. Will a country nominating a candidate need to be acceptable as a country in the world community with no sanctions imposed by other member states on the country or its Head of State bearing in mind the candidate is a nomination of the country’s Head of State.
