Commonwealth Secretariat Reviews

The atmosphere is one of complete toxicity and it flows from the Secretary-General at the top. She has set up the organisation in such a way to further her own ambitions rather than to promote the Commonwealth. Proactivity and innovation are punished unless it is designed to make her look good. Thinking outside of the box is discouraged and the only people who are promoted are sycophants. Speaking constructive truth to power leads to automatic marginalisation. The amount of tax payers' money which is wasted (particularly on first class travel for the Secretary-General and her cronies) is horrendous. Google her to find out more! The organisation has no direction, no purpose and achieves very little, if anything. The Commonwealth has a lot of good will from member countries and could achieve so much. Yet the Secretary-General and her team of dodgy senior leaders are running it into the ground. Good people are forced out or decide to leave to join rewarding organisations. This means those who remain have either given up fighting, or continue to pander to the Secretary-General's one and only mission (re-election). These same people are the ones who are rewarded and promoted for hounding out anyone who dares to present an alternative opinion to that expressed by the Secretary-General and her sinister chief of staff.

Unfortunately, the Secretary-General's Office has proven itself repeatedly to be arrogant and out of touch with what is really happening --both in countries and in the organisation. It makes up nice stories that have little basis in reality, and repeats them in the hope that they will come true. It would rather bring in new trendy experts for workshops than use its own in-house staff who have a better sense of reality. Very hierarchical, which means that work is halted or slowed down greatly because it must go through several layers of bureaucracy. The admin staff are usually well-meaning, but have to deal with terribly inefficient systems, which means that the endless redundant paperwork is like something out of a dystopian film... Sooner or later everyone must leave, and when they do, they are unhappy and disaffected. Ex-staff usually complain to whomever will listen.