Charity founder's fall from grace

The world of charities and NGOs has seen a lot of scandals, but the financial and sexual allegations that Icross founder Mike Meegan has struggled to keep out of the press are unusually serious, writes PAUL CULLEN

HE WAS once the pin-up for the Irish aid effort in Africa, an award-winning and passionate humanitarian with an unbroken 30-year stint working with the “poorest of the poor” in Kenya. A widely published researcher and health expert, he was an articulate commentator on the global divide and adept at winning celebrity endorsement needed to raise funds.

Today, though, Dr Michael Elmore Meegan’s reputation lies in tatters. He stands accused of sexual misconduct, financial impropriety and serious defects of character. A failed High Court bid to gag a newspaper from printing further allegations has only made matters worse.

The charity business has seen its fair share of scandals, but few that can match this affair for the seriousness of the allegations he faces, the length of time to which they relate, and the murk of allegation and counter-allegation involved.

Meegan made contact with The Irish Timesthis week, offering to speak to the media for the first time since the scandal broke. I have known him since the late 1990s, when I was reporting on Africa for the newspaper, and met him several times when passing through Nairobi, his base since the mid-1980s.

In court, his lawyers sought an injunction preventing the Irish Mail on Sundayfrom publishing any material alleging he assaulted or abused anyone or engaged in sexual conduct with under-18s. He also sought a right to privacy over his sexuality.

After the case was lost, the Irish Daily Mailprinted many of the allegations over four pages. A Masai tribesman, Meriape Ole Sangaire, alleged he was sexually assaulted more than 20 years ago, while another tribesman said he was paid money to stay quiet about alleged homosexual activity. A former volunteer with Meegan's charity Icross (International Community for Relief of Starving and Suffering) alleged his boss was a "dictator" who used charity cash to fund his lifestyle.

Others making accusations include a former Icross director, Dr Vincent Kenny, who first raised concerns in 1986, and a British peer, Lord John Rea, who felt that Meegan’s behaviour during a visit to Kenya was “odd and disturbing”.

A series of audits of Icross carried out by donors also point to shortcomings in the charity’s financial controls, and many of these have ceased to fund it.

AS ALLEGATIONS GO, this is quite a line-up for its breadth and timespan, but Meegan, speaking from his base near the foot of the Ngong Hills in Nairobi, is emphatic in his denials of the sex charges. He sees the claims as the result of a campaign of “raw vindictiveness” marshalled by former aid colleagues with whom he has fallen out.

Sex and sexuality is at the heart of the controversy, but discussion of it is an even more fraught subject in Kenya than it might be here in Ireland. Homosexuality is illegal in the east African state, punishable by up to 14 years in jail, and remains taboo in many parts of the continent.

There is, therefore, a need for circumspection in relation to all those caught up in the allegations.

Meegan says he has never had sex with any of his staff or with a minor and that all his sexual partners have been “human, biped and Caucasian”. He says he has had many girlfriends but describes himself as “open-minded” and “bi-metrosexual”. Descriptions of his base in Nairobi as a kind of male-only club are wrong, he says, as many of the staff are female.

Since he went to live in Kenya 30 years ago, Meegan has shunned the traditional haunts of the aid worker and has chosen instead to live among Africans. This, he implies, involves a level of closeness with other men that would not be common in modern Ireland, such as sharing beds while in the bush.

He says he also shared a bed with an African employee while on a visit to Dublin for three nights. “Most people, when you’re travelling and you’re staying in someone’s house and there’s only two bedrooms, one for the husband and wife and one for the guests, will crash. It doesn’t mean that you’re shagging each other.”

He claims some of the Kenyan former employees who have made allegations against him were offered money to make statements – an allegation denied by the newspaper.

The welter of claim and counter-claim gets confusing. Statements have been drawn up, for example, in which Meriape appears to retract his original allegation. While he has most recently said these are forgeries, and his name is misspelt in them, Meegan’s lawyers have produced an affidavit from a Kenyan lawyer saying the retractions were in fact sworn.

Behind many a sexual scandal there often lies a financial issue, and Meegan certainly believes it is necessary to “follow the money” in order to understand why he is in the firing-line.

Ironically, he traces the root of his problems to a 2005 RTÉ documentary on his work. Its success, and a high-profile BBC interview he did at the time, brought money pouring in, and a previously small charity started to grow like topsy. The problem was that the funds ended up in the bank account of Icross Ireland and the board differed on strategy with its founder.

“They wanted to turn it into an NGO like all the other NGOs, and I resisted that, successfully,” he claims. It was from this time, however, that allegations about Meegan started leaking into the press.

Success brought growth but the problems showed quickly. Irish Aid, the US government’s development arm USAid and the Elton John and Liz Taylor foundations all provided funding but became disenchanted.

The Irish arm of Icross has now paid back €97,000 to Irish Aid after the charity failed to account for it in its books. An audit had found that the money could not be traced and that explanations of where it was spent were unsatisfactory.

Meegan admits the failure of Icross to meet Irish Aid’s standards was a “huge f***-up”. “We didn’t meet their criteria for [accounting for] expenditure. They didn’t know where money went, but that didn’t mean it was stolen or swiped.” Another audit by USAid also showed up deficiencies. It outlined a series of financial controls that were lacking at Icross and questioned some expenses because they were ineligible or unsupported.

MEEGAN ACKNOWLEDGES there were problems but says responsibility lay with another NGO that had contracted the work to Icross. “You can’t be everywhere and police everything. I think the problems that arose had to do with administration, management and backup rather than skimming. We never found any evidence of embezzlement.”

Previously, Meegan has been accused of misrepresenting and exaggerating his qualifications, and it was only after I had met him that I learned that he wasn’t actually a medical doctor. He obtained a PhD from Knightsbridge University, an unaccredited correspondence college based in Denmark.

He also has a degree in philosophy from Milltown Park, a traditional training route for the priesthood, and has on occasion been referred to as “Brother” or “Father” Meegan.

“I called myself doctor in good faith,” he said on Thursday. “It had nothing to do with conning anyone; it was about furthering your academic qualifications. In those days, you could barely use the post in the bush, and I had no idea the college was not accredited.”

Meegan says he has no personal income and won't be able to pay the legal bills from this week's court case. He doubts whether he will be able to put up the money he would need to sue the Mail.

“I’m not leaving Kenya. I don’t give a s***. I’m 30 years here working in primary health and here I will die. They’ll have to shoot me.”

DR MIKE MEEGAN (51) was born in Liverpool to Irish parents and was educated at Terenure College. He describes himself as an author, researcher, sculptor and founder of several non-governmental organisations and humanitarian initiatives.

He obtained a philosophy degree from Milltown Park but says he abandoned notions of becoming a priest because “I realised the church was wealthy and not living with the poor in the way I wanted them to”.

Instead, he headed to Africa to work in health and development, eventually setting up his own agency, Icross.

The charity started small with an annual income of about €200,000 a year but grew as donors such as NCB Stockbrokers and the Ireland Funds came on board. Garret FitzGerald and Liz O’Donnell were among those to lend their support, and celebrities lined up to help out with charity auctions.

Meegan was named international person of the year in the Rehab awards in 2003 and he was given an honorary doctorate by NUI alongside actor Martin Sheen in 2006.

The height of the adulation he received came when RTÉ screened a documentary on his work, When You Say 4,000 Goodbyes, in 2005. The programme won awards and garnered rave reviews.

The Irish Timesdescribed Meegan as "a complex and spiritual man with something of the rock star about him". The Irish Independentlauded the "home-grown hero scooping gongs left, right and centre for his tireless efforts to combat poverty, disease and famine in Africa".

Meegan says he is currently completing another PhD from a university in Finland.