The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Executive Secretary Carlos Lopes has stepped down after serving four years at the helm of the organization tasked with championing economic development in Africa, his office said last week.
Lopes is leaving the organization after four busy years at the helm of the institution tasked with promoting Africa’s economic and social development, fostering intra-regional integration and promoting international cooperation for Africa’s development.
A champion of Africa’s structural transformation through industrialization, Mr. Lopes has advocated stridently with key African players. He transformed the ECA’s role towards becoming a Think Tank of reference with the uptake of ECA products by Member States for policy formulation rising exponentially.
However, the UN ECA Executive Secretary faced an unprecedented staff rebellion after initiating a series of changes at the top, which left former senior executives without key responsibilities.
He was then accused of singing platitudes for African leaders while ignoring efforts to change the structures of political and economic governance in Africa.
Numerous letters were written to the attention of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, asking for his action against the disbandment of key departments at the ECA.
They included the winding up of the ECA departments of science and technology, ICT and governance, which opponents argued showed the ECA was increasingly getting ill-prepared to deal with the challenges facing Africa.
The Executive Secretary stood firmly against the loss of billions of dollars from bad contract negotiations, lazy fiscal reforms or illicit financial flows amounting to US$50 billion through bad pricing decisions and tax evasion by foreign companies.
The ECA and the African Union feted him for initiating the global call for debt cancellation for Ebola-affected countries in West Africa. Lopes also led a team that demonstrated the economic impact projections on Africa were highly exaggerated and part of a negative narrative.
During his tenure, Lopes advised African leaders on how to finance their economies from domestic resources.
One of his main achievements while with the ECA was his role championing the need for improved data and statistics for informed decision-making on the continent.
In that regard, he re-positioned the ECA’s sub-regional offices into sub-regional data centers collecting and collating data on emerging issues of relevance to Africa’s transformation, including country profiles and an African statistical flash, and the proposal for an Africa data consensus and statistical information platform.
This initiative, however, led his staff opponents to question Lopes leadership. Cases against him, were filed at the UN tribunal.
Despite the internal staff rebellion, Lopes’s tenure was also marked by high-points, including the ECA hosting large gatherings that included many Heads of State and leaders from the private sector and academia.
“He was a champion of more active African stance on negotiations from trade to climate change. Mr. Lopes said he had enjoyed working at the ECA and helping make a positive contribution to the continent’s efforts to deepen its transformation,” the ECA said in a statement.
“I have enjoyed my time at the ECA,” he told ECA employees on Thursday. “But unfortunately all good things come to an end. I will always cherish the times that we shared together, especially working with the ECA experts in developing strategies to help the continent industrialize, fostering intra-regional integration and trade.”
A national of Guinea-Bissau, Mr. Lopes was appointed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September 2012 as the eighth Executive Secretary of the ECA at the level of UN Under-Secretary-General.
He previously served as Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in Geneva and Director of the UN System Staff College in Turin at the level of Assistant Secretary-General from March 2007 to August 2012.
Prior to that, Mr. Lopes was the UN Assistant-Secretary-General and Director for Political Affairs for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, during the period 2005 to 2007.
Source PANA
