U.N. reforms needed

Kansas City Star: A big reason the United Nations is so ineffective is its overly broad diffusion of authority. Many management and budget decisions by the secretary-general can be second-guessed by the U.N.'s financial committee that includes all member states.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in other words, serves a board of directors of 191 members. He rightly wants to streamline decision-making by shifting more authority to the secretary-general's office, but a coalition of 132 developing nations is blocking the plan.
The developing nations fear that giving more authority to the secretary-general's office would make it subject to more pressure from developed nations. They pay most of the world body's costs.
Yet the risks of doing nothing were illustrated by the oil-for-food scandal, in which Saddam Hussein corrupted the U.N. program that was intended to let Iraq sell oil to buy food and medicine.
According to last year's final report on the scandal by a panel led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, management confusion was a contributing factor in the oil-for-food mess.
The Volcker panel found that lines of authority at the U.N. were ambiguous. As a result, "when troublesome conflicts arose between political objectives and administrative effectiveness, decisions were delayed, bungled or simply shunned."
If they care about the world body's credibility, developing nations should drop their opposition to reform.