UN General Assembly
1994

anniversary with a cash crisis hanging over the Organization. We must make a commitment to resolve this crisis before the conclusion of the forty-ninth session. The next point is the need for political accountability. There is in my view a parallel priority to develop and improve the Organization’s capacity for undertaking its collective security responsibilities. To do that we need to put in place more transparent procedures throughout the Organization. The management of peace-keeping operations is allocated to the Secretariat. This is necessary and appropriate in the same way any Government delegates responsibility for a complex operation to its public service. However, and I speak as a politician and as a Minister responsible for the management and oversight of Government departments, the days are long gone when a public service mandarin could run a department or major operation without detailed political oversight. This is not a promotion of micro-management, nor am I implying any criticism of the Secretariat staff. But as any politician holding executive office in today’s democracies knows, the