Displaying items by tag: financial concerns

The Commonwealth faces uncertainty over its leadership after its heads of government rejected the secretary-general, Baroness Scotland, being given an automatic second term. Her four-year term of office comes to an end next month. The Commonwealth comprises 53 countries, encompassing almost 1/3 of the world’s population. There is disquiet among some member states about how its secretariat has been run. New Zealand has recently stopped giving funds to the institution. As long ago as 2017 the Government drafted in senior officials to support it amid concerns over the way it was being run. Senior diplomatic and political sources are accusing Lady Scotland of poor leadership and underperforming. Also, internal auditors found she awarded a lucrative £250,000 consultancy contract to a company run by her friend Lord Patel, ‘circumventing’ usual competitive tendering rules. The committee report found his firm was insolvent, with debts worth over £40,000. See