|
|
POLITICS: Kellems, First Head to Roll in Wolfowitz Scandal
By Emad Mekay
WASHINGTON, May 7 (IPS) - Kevin Kellems, the right-hand man of embattled
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, has resigned from the Bank in what
analysts say is likely an effort to save his boss.
"Kevin Kellems, director of strategy in external affairs and senior
adviser, has informed me of his intention to resign from service in the
World Bank Group, effective next week," said Marwan Muasher, senior vice
president for the Bank's external affairs, in a statement.
The statement did not give a reason for Kellem's resignation, but
observers say it is almost certainly related to the scandal now besetting
his boss and former George W. Bush administration colleague Paul
Wolfowitz.
In statements to the press, Kellems cited poor working conditions inside
the Bank for his departure and said he is looking for new opportunities.
Wolfowitz has been embroiled in a controversy over what appears to be an
unauthorised pay raise and promotion for his girlfriend and fellow Bank
staffer, Shaha Riza. The World Bank's Board of Directors is now
investigating the issue, with reports that it is leaning towards
concluding that Wolfowitz broke Bank rules.
"Kellems' resignation is perhaps a last-ditch effort to stave off a vote
of no confidence by the Bank board," said Manish Bapna, executive director
of the Bank Information Centre, an independent watchdog group.
"It's too little, too late. If anything, this seems to suggest that Paul
Wolfowitz's future at the World Bank is incredibly precarious, and that
his days are numbered," Bapna said.
The nepotism charges against Wolfowitz top a long list of complaints about
his management style, and have triggered an open revolt from Bank staff.
Some of the institution's top managers joined calls in recent weeks from
across the world for Wolfowitz to resign.
Seeking to appease some of that anger, Wolfowitz offered two weeks ago to
rein in two of his hard-line advisors, Robin Cleveland and Kevin Kellems,
who have angered many staff members with their harsh style and high
salaries - reportedly approaching 250,000 dollars.
Kellems, in particular, has been at the centre of the Riza-Wolfowitz
controversy. It was his office that initially denied any wrongdoing on the
part of Wolfowitz and told the Washington Post that the board had in fact
authorised the salary package with Riza, statements hotly denied by board
members and top managers.
Members of the Ethics Committee of the Board, the relevant body that would
have approved the raise, say that they knew nothing of the deal.
Payroll data obtained from the World Bank show that Riza, a communications
officer in the Bank's Middle East Office, received a 47,300-dollar, or
35.5 percent, pay raise - to 180,000 dollars - after her boyfriend,
Wolfowitz, arrived at the Bank in 2005.
That raise was followed last year by another 13,590-dollar raise, about
7.5 percent, to a total salary of 193,590 dollars.
Kellems, a former spokesman for U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, was named
director of external strategy last year. He was also an advisor to Richard
Lugar, the former Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
When he was appointed, many World Bank staff members were furious because
they viewed the posting as political, when the job is traditionally filled
after a competitive process. Kellems quickly came under fire for lacking
experience in international development.
Kellem's responsibilities were to better integrate the role of the
external affairs department across the World Bank Group, and to
"strengthen the Bank's global public affairs impact".
Meanwhile, staff complaints mounted. In January 2006, a complaint was
filed anonymously by a World Bank employee against the president asserting
that "bank rules and procedures were stretched in the appointment of close
advisers to Paul Wolfowitz, the bank's president".
The complaint, which received a good deal of media attention, also
questioned the logic behind the high salary and open-ended contracts given
to Kellems and Robin Cleveland, a former associate director of the White
House office of management and budget who played a key role in planning
the bungled post-war reconstruction in Iraq.
Observers say that Kellems' resignation could lead to further departures
from the inner circle that Wolfowitz has built around himself since he was
appointed by the White House to the job in June 2005.
"Could this be a prelude to a week of further resignations? I expect so,"
wrote Alex Wilks on the worldbankpresident.org website, which has kept
track of changes inside the Bank during the current controversy. "Remember
that Wolfowitz already offered to sacrifice his other aide, Robin
Cleveland, an offer that World Bank staff rejected."
Now that Kellems has left, it will certainly be hard for the Wolfowitz
camp to keep the focus on the narrow Riza-Wolfowitz affair this week,
Wilks said.
"All bets are off on how many of the Wolfowitz senior appointees are
preparing their resignation letters," Wilks added. (END/2007)
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
What is RSS?
