KOFI ANAN: May His Kind Remain
I learnt with deep sense of shock the demise, yesterday, of Mr Kofi Anan, a former scribe of the world's unifying forum, the United Nations.
Mr Anan was, until his death, a quintessential gentleman and diplomat par excellence. His disposition was that of a calm, easygoing man. Yet his intelligence and outspokenness were very remarkable attributes he bore and which were so obvious.
His stint at the United Nations was one marked by great effort to consolidating on the established framework of peace and inclusiveness established by the initiators of the world body. He went steps further to ensuring that the unification process of the United Nations proved to be really non-discriminatory.
The above goal he was able to achieve by ensuring that the concept of poverty and its worldview is universalized and integrally made a universal concern.
The idea of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was nurtured and practically started under the leadership of Mr Anan. It was this policy that ensured that the issues of poverty, child mortality and economic prosperity which have been the low points of most underdeveloped economies, especially Africa, received global attention and solution-finding.
Today, MDGs have been worked upon, obviously having been found impactful. The conception the its follow up, the SDGs, is huge testament.
The Ghana-born diplomat was a man of honour. He never said much and once he makes his position known, remains by it. For his outspokenness and his views, which oftentimes were justified, he was widely respected.
It was his view, in the heat of the diplomatic tiff between Iraq and the United States over the former's nuclear arms involvement, that George W Bush give the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission more time to understudy the suspicion of nuclear proliferation by Saddam Hussein so as to come up with conclusive report over the issue.
Although the United States, on defiance to his call, invaded Iraq, his line of thoughts was later justified by the events that played out and keeps playing out. In the end, no matter how the Bush administration viewed it, the invasion was a waste of effort, human and capital resources. It never left Americans with a saner view of the Republicans and neither did it leave for the Iraqis peace.
By and large, the lifetime of Kofi Anan was of gentility, resoluteness and peace. It was of a man who grew with patience and dedication from the ranks and files of the United Nations to become its head. As a matter of fact, Mr Anan was the first and only career diplomat to head the UN. Others had emerged through political processes.
Though he was faulted for some of his policy initiatives which were majorly seen as not been drastic, especially at his second term, his values remained appreciated. Mr Anan won the Nobel prize for peace during his first tenure as UN Secretary general!
For me here, his simple life, his outspokenness and the values of intelligence and firmness to belief he exuded shall be greatly remembered.
Kofi Anan, may your kind ever remain!
Mr Anan was, until his death, a quintessential gentleman and diplomat par excellence. His disposition was that of a calm, easygoing man. Yet his intelligence and outspokenness were very remarkable attributes he bore and which were so obvious.
His stint at the United Nations was one marked by great effort to consolidating on the established framework of peace and inclusiveness established by the initiators of the world body. He went steps further to ensuring that the unification process of the United Nations proved to be really non-discriminatory.
The above goal he was able to achieve by ensuring that the concept of poverty and its worldview is universalized and integrally made a universal concern.
The idea of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was nurtured and practically started under the leadership of Mr Anan. It was this policy that ensured that the issues of poverty, child mortality and economic prosperity which have been the low points of most underdeveloped economies, especially Africa, received global attention and solution-finding.
Today, MDGs have been worked upon, obviously having been found impactful. The conception the its follow up, the SDGs, is huge testament.
The Ghana-born diplomat was a man of honour. He never said much and once he makes his position known, remains by it. For his outspokenness and his views, which oftentimes were justified, he was widely respected.
It was his view, in the heat of the diplomatic tiff between Iraq and the United States over the former's nuclear arms involvement, that George W Bush give the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission more time to understudy the suspicion of nuclear proliferation by Saddam Hussein so as to come up with conclusive report over the issue.
Although the United States, on defiance to his call, invaded Iraq, his line of thoughts was later justified by the events that played out and keeps playing out. In the end, no matter how the Bush administration viewed it, the invasion was a waste of effort, human and capital resources. It never left Americans with a saner view of the Republicans and neither did it leave for the Iraqis peace.
By and large, the lifetime of Kofi Anan was of gentility, resoluteness and peace. It was of a man who grew with patience and dedication from the ranks and files of the United Nations to become its head. As a matter of fact, Mr Anan was the first and only career diplomat to head the UN. Others had emerged through political processes.
Though he was faulted for some of his policy initiatives which were majorly seen as not been drastic, especially at his second term, his values remained appreciated. Mr Anan won the Nobel prize for peace during his first tenure as UN Secretary general!
For me here, his simple life, his outspokenness and the values of intelligence and firmness to belief he exuded shall be greatly remembered.
Kofi Anan, may your kind ever remain!
Comments
Post a Comment