Catholic Relief Services Scandal in Kenya

An on-going scandal at the CRS office in Kenya.

The current country representative, Ken Maclean, is involved with
three different women, and it's been going on for years. While he was
in charge of the CRS office in Mumbai, India, Ken left his wife for an
affair with his subordinate, Leela Mulukutla, who was also married at
the time. At the end of his contract, Ken arranged with CRS for Leela
to get a job with him in their East Africa Regional Office. They moved
to Nairobi in 2004 and shacked up together, in a 6-bedroom mansion in
Nairobi, and began double billing CRS for their respective housing
allowances. Leela was dismissed for incompetence a few months after
they got here, and Ken has written her recommendation letters so that
she doesn't have to go through the Baltimore headquarters.

In 2007, while still married to his ex-wife and also living with
Leela, Ken got another CRS employee pregnant, Dr. Annie Sparrow. Annie
is Australian, while Ken and Leela are Americans, and they all have
had expat benefits from CRS. Ken then left Leela, stayed with Annie
for a bit, and after she delivered a baby boy (Feb 2008) Ken left her
and went back to Leela. By then, Leela has been dismissed from two
other jobs, and so Ken got her a job at another NGO (International
Medical Corps) and gave her a portion of CRS' grants from USAID and
church donations, to keep Leela's job going. Ken and Leela began
living together again, while billing each of the organizations (CRS
and IMC) for the rent on their house. Ken has also financed the
utility payments and phone bills for Leela -- from the CRS Kenya
country office discretionary account.

It's gotten bad enough that the Kenyan bishops and office staff are
embarrassed and incensed, but Ken has not just authority from CRS but
also the white-man cache in Africa, and he's basically untouchable.

The CRS HQ in Baltimore is fully on top of this and they've backed Ken
despite his affairs with subordinates. Dave Piraino, CRS VP for Human
Resources, has covered up for both Ken and Leela (while she was
employed at CRS), and he even snubbed Leela's then-husband who was
trying to trace his children (Leela ran off with their kids when she
followed Ken to Nairobi). Sean Callahan, CRS VP for Overseas
Programmes, was Ken and Leela's boss when they were together in India,
and he's also kept a lid on things to protect CRS' image. Dorette
Byrd, CRS programme quality head in Baltimore, has tried to get Ken
pushed out but can't beat the internal network. Finally, Ken Hackett,
CRS President, has come to Kenya at least twice since 2004 for public
relations (Kenya is a star country for US HIV/AIDS funding), and he
told the Kenyan staff to keep quiet about Ken and Leela if they want
to hold on to their jobs.

Unofficial word is that rather than dismiss Ken, CRS is letting his
contract expire later this year and not renewing it. There's also talk
that he was offered CRS posts in Pakistan and Malawi, but that's not
absolutely clear.

In any case, there's clearly a story in the public interest, based on
(1) the CRS country rep violating policy and sleeping with
subordinates, while representing a Catholic charity in a foreign
country, and (2) the financial fraud involved in his (and Leela's)
dipping into CRS funds for their rent and Leela's job at another NGO.