By SALIM LONE in New York
Uganda’s Olara Otunnu, despite his belated nomination by President Yoweri Museveni last month for the UN Secretary General, surged in the secret straw poll conducted in the UN Security Council on Friday. He was the only candidate to increase his “Encourages” from the July poll, with three more member states urging him to run atop the two who supported him in July, bringing his total to five.
This was essentially a result of presenting an electrifying vision of how he sees what the next Secretary General needs to do to reform the UN.
In a fascinating irony, Olara as President of the Security Council and aged only 31, introduced in 1981 the brilliant straw poll invention which was quickly dubbed the “Otunnu Formula” and is still used to this day, including now on him!
Of the other candidates – who have been campaigning since last year – Rafael Grossi of Argentina and Senegal’s Macky Sall stayed level at seven and six votes respectively. All the others lost votes, including former Chile President Bachelet who lost two, while Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett of Guyana two from the 10 she had last month, and tops the list.
I personally see this poll as a vindication of my belief that Olara is a very rare, very likeable and relatable political leader. All the three Otunnu brothers I know are in fact the most courteous and learned people imaginable, qualities most media do not much care about.
I was introduced to Olara by Prof Anyang’ 
Nyong’o, my oldest comrade friend, when we were both new UN staff members, exiled from Kenya in the early 1980s. I had heard of Ambassador Otunnu of course –he was a legendary figure at the Organization – but that does not mean we would have met, especially as Olara was soon appointed Uganda’s Foreign Minister shortly thereafterafter.
Even though I emphasize the importance of Olara’s personal traits and values, Olara is an exceptionally remarkable and accomplished person. African Presidents and Secretaries General apart, very few leaders can equal his contributions and global visibility that he has commanded over the last four decades.
That global standing was most evident when he was on the brink of twice being elected United Nations Secretary General, in 1991 and 1996, which is a rare unparalleled achievement.
Olara was thwarted the first time by President Yoweri Museveni’s strong opposition, and in 1997 by the Americans’ refusal to countenance anyone other than Kofi Annan after they ejected Boutros Ghali after just one term.
Without that US support for Annan, the New York Times wrote “that first among the [Africans] is Olara A. Otunnu, a Ugandan-born citizen of the Ivory Coast who is president of the International Peace Academy, an independent conflict-resolution organization in New York, and has many supporters.” Many other American newspapers followed that line.
On becoming Secretary General in 1997, Annan appointed Olara as Under Secretary General and the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict (1998-2005), an urgent issue Graca Machel had highlighted in a special UN study. Olara’s path breaking work, which courageously included naming even governments involved in this horror, raised his profile anew.
Long before Olara Otunnu ran for the Secretary General’s position in the 1990s, he had actually become a legend at the United Nations and within the diplomatic world. He was only 31 years old when he took the Security Council President on 1 December 1981. The superpowers were divided, so the Council had been paralyzed over the election o of a new Secretary General for 34 days, two Council Presidents and 16 failed Security resolutions.
But with his humanity, intrinsic negotiating skills and extreme political savvy, Olara was able break the bitter super-power deadlock. Both incumbent Secretary General Kurt Waldheim was seeking a third term and Salim Ahmed Salim, the Foreign Minister of Tanzania, were persuaded to withdraw, convinced by Olara that neither could avoid being vetoed.
I am sure that the Council presidents of the two previous months had used that argument too, but clearly Olara was the one who had been able to develop a trust and credibility which got through to Waldheim and Salim.
That is why Olara can talk of the centrality of the United Nations’ “moral authority” as a pivotal asset.
After breaking the deadlock that had paralyzed the Council, a quick consensus from the Council on electing Peru’s Javier Perez de Cuellar was what they call ‘a piece of cake” for young Olara.
Amidst all the intensity packed into those few days, the 31-year-old managed to introduce the brilliant straw poll invention which was quickly dubbed the “Otunnu Formula” and is still used to this day, including on him!
But 30 years after Olara’s two losses in the 1990s, in a staggering and ironic turn of events, he was nominated for the top UN post in late July by President Museveni. “Uganda’s Nomination for UN Boss Is 30 Years and Many Months Late” is how Damilola Banjo memorably put it in Pass Blue, a women’s-led digital news publication.
Most people thought Olara’s belated entry would not get far, faced as he is by distinguished rivals as well as the priority being accorded member states on women candidates for an Organization that has never had a women leader. Similar priority is being attached on those from Latin America and the Caribbean, a region which has not had a Secretary General for over 30 years.
But Olara’s campaign began extremely well on Wednesday with his lengthy Interactive Dialogue with members of the General Assembly and non-government organizations. I was blown over by his eloquent and deeply thought-out “vision statement,” flawlessly delivered.
He also excelled in the question-and-answer session by answering questions with great ease and depth. He was masterful, authoritative, immensely knowledgeable, and caring. Some group will grab him if the Security Council does not.
So it was hardly surprising that the jump in his ratings in the Security Council straw poll two days later confirmed showed how successful his Interactive Dialogue had been.
Tongues are furiously wagging as to how this came about, especially as Olara has had no contacts with the President for years. But Olara is absolutely thrilled to have been nominated.
When Mr Museveni told Olara of his decision to nominate him, Olara made only one significant request: he wanted Dr Ruhakana Rugunda the long term former Prime Minister and one of Uganda’s central policial players for decades to head the lobbying team. The President agreed, and in the last few days I have seen Dr Rugunda’s experience guide the lobbying campaign very astutely.
In another unusual twist, Olara five years ago deserted the global political and diplomatic world that he was an intricate part of and moved back to Gulu in northern Uganda to work at the grass roots to help resuscitate and resurrect his devastated region and community and of course re-integrate it with the rest of Uganda as part of the healing process.
The region’s cultural, economic, and political bearings had been ripped apart by the Lords Resistance Army’s two decades- long reign of violence and brutality, which then led to a wider civil war.
AS we all know, it is extremely rare for leaders to do such profound grassroots engagement AFTER reaching their pinnacles in service. Leaders invariably do it, if at all, in their earlier years. Olara on the other hand took all the great principles the UN has helped entrench in the global conscience by trying to live them in practice. President Jimmy Carter is the only other example I can think of.
This Gulu commitment and work truly set him apart – a global figure not travelling to the US for five years! Doing such painstaking work out of the world’s sight and without using it to burnish one’s public image is an absolutely remarkable for our super celebrity and influencer culture.
I asked the question if Olara’s highly skilled Dialogue performance would be enough to get him appointed Secretary General. The outcome is determined by the Five permanent members according to their needs. These vary widely. I think this time, with the wars, chaos and extreme inequality soaring, there will be greater interest than normal.
This extreme disparity was vividly captured last week when a major AI company announced it will have mobilized by October an astonishing $2 TRILLION for a startup. That would take care of Uganda’s annual budget for the next 30 years.
