"Overgrown Schoolboy" Nails Kofi

Remember James Bone? The London Times reporter Kofi Annan melted down over, calling him unprofessional, an "overgrown schoolboy?" Well, he gotten a bit of revenge.

Bone has been relentlessly pursuing what happened to Kojo Annan's Mercedes. Kofi's son's new wheels disappeared into Uganda after it was imported to the country under Kofi's name, and no taxes were paid.

It was a "what happened to the Mercedes?" question that led to Kofi's decidedly undiplomatic tongue-lashing of Bone. Bone picks up the story in today's London Times:

AFRICANS sometimes call their ruling elites the Wabenzi, which roughly translates as the Benz Tribe, because of their propensity to ride the continent’s rutted roads in Mercedes-Benzes.

According to United Nations figures, almost half of Ghanaians live on less than $1 a day, so I take some satisfaction in having forced the UN Secretary-General’s son to pay the $14,103 (£8,000) customs duty exemption granted on the Mercedes he imported into the country in his father’s name.

Having been publicly denounced by the world’s top diplomat as an “overgrown schoolboy” who is an embarrassment to journalism, I think I can count that as progress. But I am not finished with my questions just yet.

Bone found that the Benz was written off after an accident, which he sharply refers to as "the automotive equivalent of shredding." And his remaining questions?

That raises the question of how it got to Nigeria from Ghana, and how it was transferred out of Kofi Annan’s name. Was the UN Secretary-General required to take part in either of these transactions? Just as in Africa, the Mercedes has become a symbol at the UN — a symbol of an unaccountable elite who do not want to be bothered by journalists’ pesky questionning.

Keep cutting, James. Cut to the bone.