By Hassan John
Medical experts in Nigeria have applauded the sack of a senior official of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the Western Pacific over alleged racism, abusive and unethical behavior.
The experts gave the commendation in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja, Thursday.
It would be recalled that late Wednesday, the WHO fired its top official in the Western Pacific after a thorough investigation on alleged misconduct.
It would further be recalled that the Associated Press (AP) reported in 2022 that dozens of staff members accused top official of racist, abusive and unethical behavior that may have compromised the U.N. health agency’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In an email sent to employees on Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Dr. Takeshi Kasai’s appointment had been “terminated” after an internal investigation resulted in “findings of misconduct.”
Tedros did not refer to Kasai by name, referencing only his title as regional director in the Western Pacific.
Findings showed that this is the first time in WHO’s history that a regional director has been dismissed.
“This has been an unprecedented and challenging journey for all of us,” Tedros wrote. He said that the process of naming a new regional director for the Western Pacific would begin next month, with the election to be held in October.
Kasai, findings shows, previously denied acting in a racist or abusive way, saying that although he asked a lot of his staff, his behavior “should not result in people feeling disrespected.”
A summary of the internal WHO investigation presented at a meeting of the agency’s executive board this week in Geneva found Kasai regularly harassed workers in Asia, including engaging in “aggressive communication, public humiliation, (and) making racial comments.”
Kasai’s removal follows an AP investigation published in January 2022 that revealed more than 30 unidentified WHO staffers sent a written complaint about the director to senior WHO leaders and members of the organization’s executive board.
Documents and recordings showed Kasai made racist remarks to his staff and blamed the rise of COVID-19 in some Pacific countries on their “lack of capacity due to their inferior culture, race and socioeconomic level.”
Several WHO staffers working under Kasai said he improperly shared sensitive COVID vaccine information to help Japan, his home country, score political points with targeted donations.
Kasai is a Japanese doctor who worked in his country’s public health system before moving to WHO, where he has been for more than 15 years.
Days after the AP report, WHO Chief Tedros announced that an internal probe into Kasai had begun. Tedros informed staff in an August email that Kasai was “on leave” and another senior official was dispatched to replace him temporarily.
However, responding to questions from our correspondent in Abuja, a former staff of the WHO who pleaded anonymity insisted that the WHO “is a no-nonsense organization that will stop at nothing to discipline its staff who is found wanting no matter how highly placed.”
He revealed that WHO is a global organization that recruits its staff from all its member countries, therefore, it does not give room for any form of racism or bad behaviour. I commend the Director General for the courage to disciple him.
“This is will be a lesson to others who are indulging or want to indulge in one form of bad behavior or the other as that will send a signal that if they are caught, the consequences could be embarrassing.”
On her part, a medical doctor in Abuja, Dr. Rashidat Abdul, insisted that the WHO should purge all bad eggs within it and ensure that the staff are discipline enough to adequately take care of the health challenges of member countries no matter the countries they are from.
“WHO is the global authority as far as health is concern. There should be no room for such misconduct so that we can get the best from the staff serving in all countries of the world”
On his part, a staff of one of the UN agencies in Abuja who pleaded not to be named, said that the UN system does not condone any form of bad behavior from its workers.
“The entire UN system in the world does not take any such issues lightly. The outcome did not come to me as a surprise. If you look at the processes involved and the time it took before the decision of his sack was arrived at, you will know that it was thorough and in the best interest of the WHO.”
