KHARTOUM – A fun-loving FAO representative in one of the largest countries in Africa has as many as three wives but surprised staff by embarking on a further romantic liason with a communications officer of the UN agency, FAO sources said.

 The comms officer, herself from the host country, “is currently having a great effect on his decisions with regards to how to run the office, and despite her poor performance, he always stands up for her defending her arguments, he recently appointed her as ethics focal point of the office,” a well-placed source told the Insider.

 “Field offices are raising questions about the nature of that relation and whether it is official or causal relationship, especially since the host country is a Conservative Muslim state in which such behaviour is not officially considered acceptable,” said the source, speaking on condition they not be named. 

 “The government received this information and choose to keep silent for the sake of its relations with the FAO HEAD OF OFFICE IN the country who is evading the rules and regulations to please the government since he took office,” added the source.

 Such ambiguous situations are not unprecedented in FAO while the phenomenon of polygamous staff frequently causes problems for pensions officers.

 During the reign of the former FAO DG, José Graziano da Silva, himself married thrice, he was obliged to send a sharp reprimand to one of the highest executives at the FAO regional HQ in Chile: “Get your lover off the payroll.”

 It remains to be seen whether the current director general, Qu Dongyu, will send a similar missive to the African potentate, a native of Nigeria, FAO watchers said.

 jf