Although the election of the next Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), will not be decided until next August, there are strong indications that the United States will champion opposition to the candidacy of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, ostensibly in retaliation to what one US State Department official described as a “slap on the face” of Washington by Nigeria in the ongoing ruckus at the African Development Bank (AfDB) in which Abuja has rallied past and present African leaders to berate Washington’s meddling in the bank’s affairs with its pressure for an independent review of an inquiry into AfDB president, Nigerian-born Akinwumi Adesina. Sources told Huhuonline.com that the US is already urging its African allies to back the Kenyan candidate, Amina Mohamed, who ran for the same position and lost to the incumbent, Roberto Azevêdo in 2012.
Under US pressure, the AfDB agreed to an independent review of the earlier probe that cleared Adesina of any wrong doing. But sources close to the US Secretary of Commerce Steve Mnuchin, expressed skepticism about the review process. They accuse the Nigerian government of waging a public relations campaign of calumny and blackmail against the United States; saying any attempt by the independent review to contradict the earlier probe would backfire because Abuja had wrapped Adesina with the African flag to create a false narrative that those seeking accountability are colonialists whose actions are guided by hubris and disdain for Africans.
Trump administration officials at the State department and the Department of Commerce are miffed at the attacks on the USA by supporters of Adesina and other “fifth columnists” who have taken to social media to trash-talk the US saying it was double standards and hypocrisy for a US administration, in which President Donald J Trump is advised by his daughter, Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner to complain about Adesina’s alleged nepotism. One source cited the joint statement issued by former president Olusegun Obasanjo and former Liberian president and Nobel Peace laureate, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, with several other former African leaders in which they criticized American hubris saying: “The African Development Bank is a pride for all of Africa, and its President, Dr. Adesina, has taken the bank to enviable heights… No nation, regardless of how powerful, has a veto power over the African Development Bank.”
It was not only the US that asked for an independent inquiry. Britain and several Scandinavian countries also pushed for an external investigation, if only to clear Adesina’s name. AfDB in a statement said the inquiry would take “two to four weeks maximum” in order to accommodate the electoral calendar. Adesina has vigorously denied what he described as “trumped-up allegations,” lashing out in a May 27 statement at “attempts by some to tarnish my reputation and prejudice the bank’s governance procedures.” Thanks to the personal intervention of Ibrahim Gambari, President Buhari’s new chief of staff, described as a man with “multiple connections” Adesina has won support for his re-election as AfDB president from 54 African countries.
Even as the US was licking its wounds over what observers said was a self-inflicted diplomatic disaster, senior Trump administration officials speaking on condition of anonymity, discounted the possibility of Okonjo-Iweala getting the WTO top job, saying US efforts were focused on convincing other African countries to rally behind Amina Mohamed as the unique African candidate to replace Azevêdo who abruptly announced his decision to resign the global position this August, instead of August 2021, citing family and personal reasons. Despite accounting for 35% of WTO developing country membership, no African has ever led the organization.
Huhuonline.com understands that in July 2019, African countries resolved that the next WTO director-general should come from the continent. This sentiment was shared by other member countries, who also agreed that the post should be filled by a representative of the African continent. In addition to Amina Mohamed, other African candidates are in the running. They include Benin‘s Eloi Laourou and Egypt’s Abdel Hamid Mamdouh who is banking on the support of his government to win.
Despite her impeccable Ivy League academic credentials and over 30 years of development and financial expertise under her belt, US officials argue that Okonjo-Iweala is an outsider whose professional background is different from the typical profile of the WTO Director General, who usually emerges from within the ranks of the organization. A possible sign of enduring grievances was evident when one senior US official reminded Huhuonline.com of the intense lobbying in favor of Adesina’s candidacy for the AfDB top job by a delegation led by former president Obasanjo and Okonjo-Iweala, then finance minister which ruffled the feathers of the bank’s non-African shareholders, especially the United States and France who preferred the candidacy of Cape Verde’s Cristina Duarte; who was defeated by Adesina alongside Bedoumra Kordjé (Chad) and Thomas Zondo Sakala (Zimbabwe).
While her path is the one less travelled towards applying for Director-General at the WTO, Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy is also the source of controversy and anger; coming after President Buhari, without explanation, canceled the nomination of Ambassador Yonov Frederick Agah, Nigeria’s permanent representative at the WTO, and a deputy director-general for the organization. In a trite and laconic statement, the federal government said: “His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, has approved the nomination of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to replace Ambassador Agah, as Nigeria’s candidacy for the position of the Director-General…”
Okonjo-Iweala and Buhari are sworn political enemies, but Aso Rock sources told Huhuonline.com that Buhari’s new chief-of-staff, Gambari, convinced the president that Okonjo-Iweala’s nomination was the best chance for another Nigerian to be in the top echelons of a major international organization. While consensus opinion holds that now is the time for Africa to take over leadership of the WTO; which would see both WHO (led by Ethiopian Tedros Ghebreyesus), and WTO led by an African, the US intends to exploit the disunity amongst the African candidates by presenting African countries with a straight choice: rally behind the Kenyan Amina Mohamed with vast experience in the organization; being the first woman to chair the three most important WTO bodies, including the first woman to chair WTO’s General Council in 2005. While this is a chance for WTO to be headed by an African, it remains to be seen whether African member states will agree on a single candidate, or allow the continent to be short-changed given that the WTO director-general is usually selected by consensus. So far, only Jesús Seade Kuri from Mexico has announced his candidacy which is yet to gain any traction possibly because the outgoing director-general is from Brazil.
Already, the sudden change in the nomination of Nigeria’s candidate from Ambassador Agah, to Okonjo-Iweala was received with hostility in Egypt. The Egyptian government in response to Okonjo-Iweala’s nomination published a communiqué on June 5, 2020 to the permanent missions of the WTO member states of the Ministerial Committee on Candidatures stating that Abuja’s decision to withdraw Agah’s candidacy meant Nigeria had forfeited its chance to participate in the race. The seems to be no legal basis for this Egyptian contention because under WTO rules in Document WT/L/509 of 10 December 2002, outlining procedures for the appointment of directors-general; Articles 8 states inter alia: “Members shall have one month after the start of the appointment process to nominate candidates. Nominations shall be submitted by Members only, and in respect of their own nationals. The candidates nominated shall then have three months to make themselves known to Members and to engage in discussions on the pertinent issues facing the Organization. The remaining two months prior to the conclusion of this process shall be devoted to selecting and appointing one of the candidates.” The standing rules further state in Article 20: “Recourse to voting as a last resort” – If, after having carried out all the procedures set out above, it has not been possible for the General Council to take a decision by consensus by the deadline provided for the appointment, Members should consider the possibility of recourse to a vote as a last resort by a procedure to be determined at that time. Recourse to a vote for the appointment of a Director-General shall be understood to be an exceptional departure from the customary practice of decision-making by consensus, and shall not establish any precedent for such recourse in respect of any future decisions in the WTO.”
Sources close to US ambassador to the WTO, Dennis Shea, confided to Huhuonline.com that the United States cannot afford to have someone as “independent-minded” and deemed “hostile” to US national interest as Okonjo-Iweala at the head of the WTO at a time Washington is threatening to escalate its standoff with the Geneva-based organization. President Trump has missed no opportunity to denounce the WTO and threatened to unilaterally revoke the special breaks global rules grant developing nations. Since December last year, member states can no longer settle their trade disputes through the WTO because the Trump administration has blocked the appointment of judges to WTO’s top court that rules on trade disputes, making it ineffective. While WTO members can still file grievances, there can be no enforcement of a ruling if any state files an appeal. WTO now faces its biggest crisis in its 25-year history
The Trump administration has taken issue with the WTO tribunal because it has refused to rule in favor of Washington in its ongoing trade war with China. The WTO has also balked at forcing China, India, South Korea and seven other G-20 countries to accept that they are now developed nations. Still classified as developing nations, these countries benefit from favorable trade rules that the US says gives them an unfair advantage and allows China to dump cheap manufactured goods in foreign markets
In the wake of the global economic slump caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, several challenges await the new WTO director-general including: preparing the 2021 WTO ministerial conference; kick-starting stalled negotiations and most importantly, resolving conflicts between WTO and the United States.
