The Secretary General of La Francophonie, Louise Mushikiwabo, tightened her grip on the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) last week, before the arrival of its new administrator, Caroline St-Hilaire, learned The duty.
Mme Mushikiwabo took advantage of the transition period before Mr.me St-Hilaire to carry out a restructuring which removes from the new number two of the OIF any direct responsibility for the representations of the organization spread all over the world.
The Secretary General also made a dozen “discretionary appointments”, including just under half to the team of close associates of Ms.me St-Hilaire, who has just been appointed and who is not yet in post at the Paris headquarters of the OIF.
Mme Mushikiwabo announced these changes to OIF staff in an internal memo dated March 21, which The duty got a copy.
“The new administrator will effectively take up her duties in the coming weeks. In the process, and in accordance with the provisions of the Staff Regulations, I made discretionary appointments within my cabinet and the office of the administrator which will be scalable, according to the needs, “she wrote. .
Attached to the internal note, a new organizational chart, in force since March 24, shows that Mme St-Hilaire will not be responsible for the external representations of the OIF in Europe, Africa, Asia and on the American continent. These 13 offices, the most recent of which was inaugurated in Quebec City last year, have until now been under the responsibility of the person exercising the function of administrator, as evidenced by at least two previous organizational charts, dated respectively from November 2022 and June 2020.
In a KPMG report produced after the arrival of Mme Mushikiwabo, the consulting firm precisely proposed, at the beginning of 2020, an organization chart which placed the representations under the responsibility of a coordination center reporting to the administrator.
Discretionary appointments
In the document setting out his “discretionary appointments”, Mme Mushikiwabo relies on Article 48 of the Staff Regulations of the OIF, which nevertheless provides for the administrator’s contribution to the choice of his close collaborators. “The Secretary General appoints, at his discretion, the members of his cabinet as well as the members of the office of the Administrator, on the latter’s proposal”, can be read in this statute.
Mme Mushikiwabo also refers to Article 52, which gives him the power to make temporary appointments for a period that cannot exceed the term of office of the administrator, which is four years.
In addition to changes relating to external representations, the new organization chart no longer includes a legal department.
In the decision presenting these “discretionary appointments”, Ms.me Mushikiwabo also regulates the allocation of the four company cars available to the OIF and their respective drivers. Mme Mushikiwabo and his special adviser, Désiré Nyaruhirira, will each have a vehicle at their disposal, as will Mr.me St-Hilaire and the head of his office, Alain Ngoc Pham.
In the office of M.me Mushikiwabo, spokesperson Oria Vande Weghe referred to a 2019 decision to limit the scope of the change in responsibilities of external representations.
“The political and diplomatic aspect of the representations, only, will now be managed by the office of the secretary general”, she said, maintaining that the programmatic, administrative and budgetary aspects will depend on the administrator of the OIF.
As for the “discretionary appointments” of March 21, Mme Vande Weghe assured that it was a simple extension until March 31, since the mandates of the administration office had expired since December 31 last. The responsibilities of the legal department have been divided into other departments.
In Ottawa, a federal source (who declined to be named as she is not authorized to speak openly on the subject) expressed concern about changes to the responsibilities of the new administrator. “We have concerns about the way it is done, without consultation. In the perspective where we want to make the OIF a more transparent organization, this decision does not correspond to our philosophy on this subject, ”we said.
The office of the Quebec Minister of International Relations, Martine Biron, did not want to comment on these changes.
Proposed by Quebec, the candidacy of Mme St-Hilaire was endorsed last week by the Permanent Council of La Francophonie, where member states and governments, including Quebec and Canada, are represented.
Mme St-Hilaire succeeds Geoffroi Montpetit, whose mandate was not renewed contrary to what was expected. Mr. Montpetit had himself replaced Catherine Cano, who had left office hastily in 2020 amid differences with Mr.me Mushikiwabo.
Last week, M.me Biron underlined that there was still work to be done in order to improve the governance and transparency of the international organization.
Harassment
In the internal note of March 21, Mme Mushikiwabo lists elements of his transformation plan that remain to be done, including the establishment of a policy against harassment “in all its forms”. According to information from Dutya text on the subject already existed.
A survey conducted for this purpose among OIF employees shows that 44% of respondents believe they have been victims of moral harassment at work, and 9% of sexual harassment, Radio-Canada reported on Monday.
M’s officeme Biron then affirmed that “harassment is zero tolerance”. “Quebec is happy to have a competent and trustworthy person in place who will be able to help improve practices within the organization,” said press secretary Catherine Boucher, speaking of Ms.me St-Hilaire.
On the Ottawa side, the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, urged the OIF to adopt the last elements of its policy, “which, we were told, were in the process of being finalized”, said spokeswoman Maéva Proteau. “Canada is very concerned about the high internal survey results on harassment and particularly sexual harassment,” she noted.