I have legal advice too

You don’t fool me.

Many may have thought Mr Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations was wrong-footed last week when he was prompted into saying the war lead by the United States in to Iraq did not conform to the UN charter and was hence illegal.

This has always been Mr Annan’s stance even though he has gone out of his way to try and accommodate the belligerents and suffered great losses as a result.

Every supporter of the war expressed incredulity at his comments; especially those who thought those comments would harm Mr George W. Bush’s re-election plans.

One sees fear of being found out by all those who have brought peace, stability, freedom, instability, woe, democracy and destruction to Iraq but dissembling about the presence of weapons of mass destruction as a premise for invading Iraq.

It is arguable that only the ones who had direct contact with Saddam and his henchmen suffered more seriously at his hands.

What the majority suffers now in the continuous bombings, hostage-taking and lack of amenities belies the fact that things were probably a lot better with Saddam.

Basically, the naivety of the US is exemplified in expecting a pliant and submissive public the day after the war only to be greeted by sophisticated insurgents that have claimed thousands of lives from all spectra.

Legal advice

What was most striking about it all was the interview with John Howard the prime minister of Australia who is presently fighting a re-election campaign.

Having tried to denigrate and castigate the Secretary General, probably with the intent to belittle, discredit and besmirch his good name the commented about the fact that Mr Annan’s view was contrary to the legal advice Australia, the UK and the USA had taken before the war.

Wait a minute! What really constitutes legal advice? It is a position in law that you take regarding an issue, situation or circumstance where those topics are presented to give you confidence in the position you have taken.

Legal advice does not suddenly imply you are right; whilst you might want to think you are, it can be challenged by interested parties in the court of law and found to be wanting when an alternative view is offered. This is how the whole court system works.

A lawyer takes a position on an issue and advocates that position in adversarial stance to the challenger of his views with the judge to moderate and the jury to pass judgement.

Mr Howard, your legal advice hardly past the first hurdle of due diligence in having those views challenged in a court of law, they can hardly be used as corroborative facts to support the case for Iraq.

I think we have all grown weary of politicians telling us they about faceless experts who have said food is safe, mobile phones do not fry your brain, genetically modified crops know their place and would never move out of their enclosure and now that the Iraqi escapade was for the war against terrorism.

For now, I have no time to analyse the quality of legal opinion that informed the war in Iraq, but I do wonder what opinions they now have of the precariously life-threatening situation in Iraq that the cost of insurance is astronomical.

By and large, on face value that statement was valid, but thankfully we analyse everything thing we hear, especially from people of Mr Bush’s political persuasion.

No Sir! I am not fooled.

Foot in mouth disease

Classic Foot in mouth

Living in the Netherlands for me has brought many benefits of settling down, prosperity, lack of stress and a probably sedentary lifestyle.

I have my reasons for leaving the UK and I am glad that my over 4 years here has been fun, exciting and interesting.

However, the Dutch have been inflicted with the worst kind of political representation in living memory.

After the shake-up of Pim Fortuyn’s considered right-wing stance that lead to his unfortunate murder in May 1991, one would have thought the Dutch would be more politically sensitive in weighing the consequences of exercise of franchise.

Unfortunately, I regret to report that that hope has been twice dashed, squandered on the ignominy of voters who are lacking in both a conviction and ideology; and there is no sign of it being shifted for a while.

Anyway, we have this government whose most imaginative plans have thrived on penny-pinching and the intelligent use of circumstances to conceal more sinister intentions. See Tolerance as a mindset of choice, prejudice and hypocrisy - Part 2

Penny-pinching aside, one is quite amused that the news that the Prime Minister and his government which happens to be the uneventful president of the rotating EU presidency for just another 3 or so months has only been about to tactfully question the happenings in the Russia with the slant of blame on the Russian government.

Then he went on about the Netherlands remaining Christian even if people stopped going to church. Sometimes, it makes one wonder about how people think. Profound as that might sound; one is not impressed by half.

This is a government trying to be both right-wing and conservative, but failing miserably as both - they neither have ideology, identity, vision nor goals - they are as listless a ship navigating the throes of Hurricane Ivan.

Well, news reaches us that he has a foot infection which is not healing as fast as it should, hence requiring another week in the hospital. I wish him no ill, perhaps he might return from hospital with genuinely ground-breaking ideas – you can be infected with all sorts of bugs in hospital, he might just catch the Statesman bug.

Like the foot and mouth disease of a few years before, one is tempted to hope that he is quarantined from government for new ideas to evolve.

Lacking sight and vision

Pass on these charlatans

Touchily in touch

Despite the lull in activity on this blog life has been quite eventful since the end of July. If you had read the previous blogs one can agree that the inability to see the beyond one’s immediate circumstance does contribute largely to the stress and despair that envelopes people’s lives.

Now, I can say my last job is history, though news does filter through that much of my painstaking work is being castigated by people who have no understanding or appreciation of what one left behind.

Basically, if a complete overhaul has to made of what was effective and working as at the time one left the company, it beggars the question, what were the successes so well highlighted when one was there, and how did those suddenly disappear at one’s leaving?

It is probably sabotage or the sheer understanding of how the system works and knowing what to do, considering one was given just two days to transfer knowledge of that system and the wealth of experience to complete greenhorns, the face-saving grace for those involved could only be suggesting a complete overhaul – even one could not begrudge them that, if there is an audience listen.

Proudly humble

In my humble opinion, the system is such that implementation is easy, designing to the specification of an enterprise setting is the difficult part and you do not pick that up on an afternoon of basic mouse-clicking.

The unfortunate situation of complex systems is that wizards are provided to simplify the implementation of unwieldy and unmanageable monsters to the detriment of good understanding of the fundamentals and praise of 2-page reviews in magazines.

Do not get me wrong, no system is impervious to modification, change or improvement, sometimes it should be replaced on the proviso the personnel involve know what they are doing and know what they really want to achieve.

One is willing to submit to constructive and knowledgeable peer analysis and criticism; it is part of the validation process; both healthy and competitively rewarding.

Not yet personally

However, just because you can drive a car does not make you a mechanic, many cannot even change tyres, in this case, one is afraid, and knowing that a cigarette lighter pops out once it is heated up is of course Rocket Science 101.

Why bother about this whole debacle which at first is a result of crass and incompetent management and visionless blundering?

Nobody wants to hear news that one’s well thought our work is being rubbished by charlatans after you have left, it is underhand, uncouth and ungentlemanly conduct, not to say beneath contempt. Do not even accuse me of taking this personally.

Be warned!

Mr Nice-Guy.

Wading in Abu Ghraib

Mud glorious mud

Being one never to admit to having big feet the events that have been filling our screens and news feeds from the Iraqi rabbit hole has meant that only a wade would help one keep balance as the truth throws up more mud than the marriage banquet of King Hippopotamus.

Apparently, the despicable pictures of prisoner torture and humiliation are only the tip of the iceberg which could be as large as Antarctica. Pardon me for being given to uncensored hyperbole, but exaggeration in this case probably is just a poor imitation of reality.

The facts of the matter are clearly the following:

1. Junior ranks and contracted personnel involved in the preparation and interrogation of prisoners must have been following orders or set down procedure to get critical intelligence
2. Photos taken posed or not, served to thrill the perpetrators and their protagonists
3. If photos where taken, what was not taken and where was the line drawn?

Digital cameras are the rage

Anyway, the supposed candour of Mr Rumsfeld was a little short of acceptable sincerity on account of the fact that he continually riled the illegal publication of the photos rather than address without duplicity the cases of abuse.

Feigning ignorance of these volatile issues till they were so caught out, we now have a mass hysteria of contrition and apologies even the proposal for compensation - if the compensatees live to make a claim.

Keeping this review short, it is interesting to note that how Guantanamo bay plays into these events; it happens that the commandant of that legal black hole became a consultant to the interrogators in Abu Ghraib or even something more.

By comparison, we know about Abu Ghraib and the utterly sanctimonious acts of the British in Basra because of a modicum of press freedom and those persons who so annoy Mr Rumsfeld by taking pictures with their state-of-the-art digital cameras

We also owe it to ABCs 60 Minutes II who refused undue Pentagon interference to suppress the information we all should be been informed of a lot earlier by those who should have known better.

Guantanamo Reloaded

The only apparent court martials from Guantanamo Bay are related to intelligence breaches or espionage charges the irony of such discipline and adherence to all procedures for prisoners who are neither prisoners of war or covered by Geneva Conventions. Executive privilege holds sway of scrutiny by courts or independent review.

One cannot begin to imagine what the occupants in Guantanamo Bay experience in the light of the revelations in Iraq - one is tempted to say, we did have regime change but the same demons that possessed Saddam's cohorts in Abu Ghraib found new hosts in the Americans.

It goes to show that human beings are susceptible to base and primitive manipulation especially if you are of the first world and very American.

The Summer Collection

The families of the accused have probably missed the point by protesting the good-natured characters of their sons and daughters when back at home.

Not being one to cast aspersions on the dignity of such well meaning Americans following orders as one should in the forces - putting it all in perspective the hooded prisoner was just on a mini cat-walk showing off the Abu Ghraib summer collection.

The one on a leash was taking part in a commercial on how to pose with your dog - subjects for photography competitions have to be more radical and ground-breaking in these times.

Demanding Courtesy

Escalate this!

After the utterly spiteful mail I received from my boss on Tuesday, I had gotten to a point where I would not stand for any of it any more.

There has to be someone in the company to whom I could appeal to redress this situation and make it right, just and good. The idea that occurred to me was to forward it to both the CIO and HR Director, but on the insightful advise of a colleague I included the CEO in the circulation.

Do not get me wrong, all I wanted was for someone to attend to it and create a situation where I could leave the company in the best of spirits, having not burnt any of my bridges. Copying in the CEO was for the effect of having him wonder why he mailbox received this nonsense and have the other parties sort it out forthwith.

I sent the email under the title of Managerial Conduct on Wednesday evening and even copied in my boss, lest he be surprised at what I was stirring up.

By Thursday, afternoon, I was invited for a meeting with the HR Director and CIO. Not knowing what slant it would take, I asked if I could bring a colleague. The meeting arranger paused and then returned later to suggest that the meeting was going to be friendly and completely non-confrontational.

So, giving the benefit of doubt, I had my friend on standby but attended the meeting alone with some biscuits for coffee.

The meeting was pleasant, heart-warming and very positive, apart from condemning the lack of courtesy on the part of my manager, they offered to let me go immediately if I so wished. I however, decided I needed to finish a few tasks before leaving and so set the date for my last working act for the next Tuesday - 3 working days away.

I also asked that the CIO arrange a meeting with my boss to ensure that we met and parted on very amicable terms and that happened this afternoon.

Face-saving addict

As usual, in the persistent, interminable and obsessive face-saving nature of my boss, he consulted with one of my close colleagues, suggesting he allowed the CIO and HR Director to meet with me without him being present. It speaks volumes; as if I would have agreed to attend if he was to make a showing.

The CIO and HR Director had already said they would overrule him with regards to whatever redress I wanted, he either reports to them or the meeting and assurances were a farce. Sometimes the effrontery of the man blows me away.

He also suggested that my need for recognition was excessive, considering there are many more who have done a lot more and have received no acknowledgement or recognition. My point exactly, what is wrong in expressing gratitude to help increase productivity, goodwill and effectiveness at work?

Anyways, I am of the view that I would be well regarded when I leave and apart from referring to my boss, my activities are in a better light with everyone else but probably him.

The Letter what done it

Dear Lady/Gentlemen,

After much reflection, I am compelled to highlight what I regard a gross injustice in relation to my tenure of service at this company which runs to over 2 years.

I illustrate in some detail three particular grievances

1. The way my resignation was handed and how I am being treated by my manager
2. The inability of HR to mediate and adjudicate in conflict resolution
3. The laissez-faire attitude to what could have been a better handled exit and handover process

I decided to seek other career opportunities immediately after a meeting with my manager Mr Boss which included 3 other attendees to defend my implementation of SMS in the Enterprise following standard Microsoft guidelines and 8 years of experience providing this service to conglomerates.

That meeting which was chaired by Mr Boss was a display of the most unacceptable and untenable use of language, innuendo and threats, none of which I have ever encountered on over 16 years of employment.

The way we were treated disrespectfully, shabbily and without integrity was legendary, it was the very last straw in a litany of events that forced a decision to leave.

When I handed in my notice of resignation, it was received with disdain and no acknowledgement of whatever I might have done in service to this company, even though I do have 2 performance review statements that commend my service, loyalty and professionalism.

In working out what is effectively going to be 7 weeks notice, I appealed to the good nature and reason of Mr Boss and well as the record of my service to allow either an early release or a 4-day week of 40 hours to no avail.

This was complicated by the fact that HR was unable to offer any mediation or conflict resolution. The medical opinion of my doctor was that this was creating a stress level impacting negatively on my health and ability to work, but I returned to work anyhow to complete my assignments as best as I could.

I am seriously concerned that nothing was being done to ensure that my activities and responsibilities are effectively handed over to some other personnel.

I suppose there is a difference of opinion between my colleagues who think my leaving would create a vacuum and my manager who by inference contends that my presence or absence is of no significance.

This is just an opinion, but I believe I deserve better than this petty attitude and use of reckless communication.

Whilst I am not under the illusion that anything would be done to redress this matter with a person so high in the management structure of the establishment, I am putting this on record as the view that the company represents of my service until refuted by a competent authority.

I have also attached for your perusal all email exchanges with Mr Boss, starting with my Letter of Resignation of the 10^th of June 2004.

Thank you for your forbearance and time.

Yours sincerely,

That did it and did it well, I feel vindicated and everyone else who can see through this whole charade knows that it is best not to stand for discourtesy, no matter how high up the cadre the person is or how old-fashioned it seems.

Utterly Spiteful Sower

The Sin of Resigning

You would have learnt over the last few weeks that I resigned my appointment from a cable company in early June and in previous blogs I highlighted reasons why I had to go.

This is all documented the listed blogs

The man and his institutions
Resignation?
No Sir! We would not take the rap
The psychology of resignation
The context of career development

However, I will entertain you to a commentary of events that took place after my last review of the situation in the next few blogs.

Meanwhile, it transpired that my boss who did nothing in the spirit and letter of developing his team decidedly held me to the letter of my notice period, details of our exchanged correspondence and the unfortunate impotence of our Human Resources department in conflict resolution would appear hereafter.

So yesterday, after so much angst expressed by colleagues who felt concerned that a replacement was not being found for my role, I called them into a meeting to help me decide the best way to address this issue.

We finally decided on clearly delineating what is left to be done and highlighting that fact to my boss. I reproduce the complete communication below, you might recognise some of the jargon or even the company this pertains to, if you do, you at least know what enquiries you have to make before joining that department.

My Concern about Handover issues

Sir,

For all intents and purposes, I think I need to address the following basically for your information.

My last working day is the 30^th of July 2004 and there are quite a number of projects and activities that I am involved in and trying to complete, especially those just recently raised.

These activities concern the following:

• The EuroPC for ECC – Completion of the application repackaging set to be deployed on the client – Remedy, Contivity VPN Client testing and refining other applications after the first testing is performed, hopefully soon.
• Repackaging of the Q.mail client, configured for the replacement of the existing server and a client version upgrade.
• Repackaging of the Clarify eFrontOffice client SR1.8 – this would deal with outstanding Derby issues, remove the development tools and conduct the cache cleaning in a better managed way.

Furthermore, I had ideas for the SC&D which would have been in the pipeline execution in the next few months.

• Working on Mozart 2.0 – refining the image, Java Runtime and Acrobat Reader updates, probable Office 2003 upgrade.
• Upgrade to SMS 2003

Whilst, I would strive to complete these outstanding issues, I am not aware of anyone who would carry on any of these functions after I have left, it would be unfortunate that after having given what is effectively 7 weeks notice, this issue has yet to be properly addressed. It is unlikely that I can fulfil the outstanding issues, conduct a handover and fully document SC&D by the time I leave.

The functions PEBO covers are just the operation of the SMS environment.

Finally, considering how understanding and favourable you have been towards my departure, I have now taken the liberty to withdraw the offer made in my resignation letter to help out whoever takes over my role after I have left.

I trust I have duly acquainted you with the situation at hand.

Thanks and regards.

His reply

Hi Akin,

Thanks for sharing your concern for SC&D after your departure, I am sure the company will survive.

Best regards

My response

Sir,

That is fine with me, I never considered myself indispensable. It has been a pleasure working for you.

My best regards

His final response

Akin,

All the best wishes.

Best regards

Commentary

I did forward this to HR just to highlight the fact that our relationship had deteriorated to such a level that one would really wonder what might have gone on before now.

The whole episode speaks volumes, but hey! I only have 8 more days of working for a man who in not coming to terms that I had resigned has mismanaged what could have been the most amicable parting and it only shows that my 2 years of service to him amounted to nothing when the reckoning was made.

It is a good thing I jumped; I wonder what would have happened if I was pushed, I probably would not be here to tell the tale.

Holidays do end

Knowing how to play

A radical Nigerian educationist once said, "They who do not know how to work, do not know how to play" Tai Solarin.

Contrasting the whole idea of holidays between the Nigerians and the West makes interesting reading.

I remember quite vividly many of my parent’s generation who took their annual leave, then did the utmost to exhaust themselves that by the time they return to work they are really in need of rest.

Not that they did not know how to work, but many had to work under undue stress, from management pressures, unstated expectations, career difficulties and the ever present superstitious psyche of being affected by situations that are always out of their control.

Everything is attributable to something no matter how inconsequential.

R-rated holidays

The ideal for some would be not in work in any month that contains the letter "R", though it could be argued that it is better to go on holiday in the months that contain the letter "R" - go figure.

Anyway, after 2 weeks that saw lots of sun and probably the signs of burning which might show as skin peeling in 2 weeks time and the attendant re-tanning of the tanned hue, one could conclude that it was good fun and I am well rested.

July, presents a host of new opportunities, a new job, starting a Master’s degree and relaxing in the knowledge that things would be OK.

More about the holidays later.