Dr. Jean Kaseya, the recently appointed director general of the newly empowered Africa CDC, is enmeshed in a highly charged imbroglio with his former employer, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, my colleague Sara Jerving writes in an exclusive report you’ll only see on Devex.
It’s a winding saga but a must-read because it raises serious questions about the man who was a somewhat surprising pick for a job that puts him at the helm of efforts to ensure the health of a continent of over 1 billion people.
The story also concerns the fate of two CHAI employees detained in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a case potentially linked to longstanding tensions between DRC and its archrival Rwanda. Involved in the discussions around the detainees is Kaseya, a Congolese doctor, who says the employees are being held because authorities allege they covered up the whereabouts of a Rwandan colleague accused of “suspicious” activity.
A source familiar with the situation suggested that Kaseya’s involvement in the discussions around the detained employees is “troubling and potentially dangerous.”
Kaseya calls those charges not only “simply ridiculous but also an insult to a country,” saying he intervened because CHAI asked and because one of the detained individuals is a childhood friend.
Also thrown into this cauldron are demands CHAI needs to fulfill if it wants its employees back, including one of dubious origin that a “deposit” be made in U.S. dollars.
But the story doesn’t end there. He’s hauled CHAI to labor court for not renewing his contract. He also purportedly stormed into CHAI’s office in Kinshasa, accompanied by an armed guard and is claimed to have confronted staff members for not giving him a farewell party and internal documents he had requested, according to an incident report obtained by Devex. Kaseya rejects this characterization of the visit .
All of this happened in a short span of time as he assumed the reins of Africa CDC, which has been considered a global health success story and has increasingly grown in prominence and responsibility in recent years.
This account is being reported here for the first time after nearly two months of investigation based on confidential internal reports, emails, text messages, and interviews.
Exclusive: Africa CDC head’s bizarre entanglement with Clinton initiative