Military Rule Is Not Cool: REDUX--Death Toll Now 157

The total death toll in this week's military massacre of civilians in Guinea has now reach a stunning 157 people. Those Guineans friends of mine who can speak have nothing but anger and distress in their words. This is too much. The news media are NOW looking more closely at the junta leader and calling him 'erratic' (see BBC report). Well, guess what? Erratic does not mean that you can oversee the carnage of nearly 200 people. The stories of bodies riddled with bullets, or with stab wounds as from bayonets; of women being raped and abused are all to familiar. Nothing suggests an attempt to control, but to mow down, people.

Whatever good people might have felt that Capt. Camara was doing, ruling with compassion is now not going to be high on the list.

Military Rule Is Not Cool: Do Not Over Stay Your Welcome

My time in Africa laid bare what I took to be a self-evident truth: everyone has a breaking point. When I saw the abject poverty that people lived with in Guinea and the sometimes callous indifference of rulers to that, I said to myself, "How can a people stay passive to this kind of abuse?"

For most of my time in Guinea, they stayed relatively passive, saving their ire for a near-annual ritual set of protests about the availability and price of imported rice, or getting very angry that electricity was not available to ensure viewing of international soccer. But, eventually, small groups and then almost the whole population said "Enough!" They rioted violently. They were met with severe repression. Many were killed.

Politicians promised change. It was not much and not fast. Then, the key catalyst occurred: the president, who had been in charge and symbolised all the wrong, died. The military took over quickly--a scenario that had been predicted many years before. The new military ruler promised to clean house and that he would then leave after two years and call elections for president, and would not stand himself.

Fast forward. The people were generally happy with the change of regime and the prospects of new elections. Then, wind came that the military ruler would stand in the next presidential race. The people said again, "Enough!" They rioted yesterday, on September 28. Reports indicated about 60 people were killed as some 50,000 people gathered in the appropriately named September 28 stadium to protest against the junta. The military responded violently to this protest against Captain Moussa Dadis Camara (pictured). Later reports suggest 87 dead. The international community was again quick to condemn the military actions (see Human Rights Watch report).

We are not accustomed to military coups in the English speaking Caribbean. We are not really that accustomed to civil insurrection, either. I imagine that for most people in our region they can barely relate to what is going on in Guinea, perhaps citing images of Haiti or some central or south American country as a near parallel. I cannot say if those images are really the same. To me, none of them is. Guinea's historical place is similar to Haiti's in that they both poked the French in the eye to take independence. But Haiti never had Guinea's natural riches to make a great go of things. Guinea just never managed to get its motor running after the French went, and the result is a country that is so poor that it makes you cry to see no water, no electricity, sick people, etc.

Yet, I'm sure that in Guinea if you ask people today how are things going ("Ca va?" in French), they will reply "Like a Guinean...a little," ("Ca va...un peu"). That little is never very much but when it's all you have, it's a lot.

The junta leader has quickly admitted that soldiers lost control of the situation (see BBC report.As they would also say in Guinea, "Ah bon?" (Oh really?). But, maybe it's better now that an acknowledgement like that has been made.That's progress of a kind...of a very strange but real kind. But the dead are still dead.

What A Life: Come, Share Mine.

So much of what we take for granted is merely a matter of context. Take my little household. I have a housekeeper whose native country is somewhere in west Africa. Generally speaking, her native country has had an appalling time, economically, since independence from the French in the 1950s. The French helped by basically gutting the country when they left. But, on the positive side, her country has not seen much civil strife during the same period. Only recently have people really risen up against the rulers, and the death of only their second president since independence has been a spur for another military coup. But, her life and that of her compatriots is shaped by those economic-political backings and the following:

• a country with wondrous mineral resources, which somehow has never had these enrich the population;
• a land with many rivers, yet most people struggle to get a decent supply of drinking water;
  
• those same rivers can supply enough electricity to light the whole country, yet regular power outages are the norm and the capital is notable for being a place of darkness when one lands by plane at night;
• the country was once the 'grain basket' for the sub region, now it imports most of its food; and rice, which it can and did grow successfully for decades, is regularly imported from south east Asia, putting a massive strain on the meagre foreign exchange reserves in the central bank;
  
• wars have gone on in most of its neighbouring countries, and hordes of refugees have flooded into the country, putting a huge strain on the already meagre pickings available;
• if you want to leave, you cannot get as much as one flight out each day to Europe, though there are daily (arduously long and mainly indirect) flights to neighbouring African countries.
  

With all of that, you have to do the daily grind. When I heard her talking on the phone to her son (now 7), about some medical treatment that he had just had, I envisaged him in that setting, with his father and sisters, and pondered whether his mother was doing right by him by being here in Barbados, earning a very decent wage, with which she could offer the family good financial support.

She cannot share with them life in this blissful, small island economy, where most things work really well, crime is low, banks have ATMs, currency is stable, daily flights take you to the UK, US, Canada, and nearby islands. I think she is bewildered sometimes with what she hears on the radio as people talk about "how hard things are".

When I listened and read recently about problems of arrears at the Barbados Water Authority and to Barbados Light and Power, I though immediately to the situation that had applied in Guinea. Many people did not have water bills because they had no water piped to their properties; most had wells and the water quality was a bit dodgy. Many people stole electricity if it was available nearby. Even in the best of neighbourhoods, you would be a fool to rely on the national grid, and most homes had a diesel-fueled generator, which was often running because power cuts were often and sometimes very long. Add to that, the fact that those who worked in a property were not averse to stealing diesel for their own use or for profit. Those who did not steal electricity and paid in time and in full, like I did, were often bemused how the monthly bills would sometimes triple and quadruple, even in periods when the house was empty. Failure to pay would mean disconnection. I remember one of the difficult exercises with the government was to track down the arrears to public sector companies and arrange for their repayment. The amounts were huge and long-standing, and often the culprits were other government agencies, who were under tight budgets and passed on their pain. What would it serve to not have water and electricity in government offices?

Likewise, with the telephone company, who billed my residence for two years, even though they had acknowledged that it had no working line. They also billed my office for calls not paid for two years. I recall my first experience of negotiating in French, in my first week in office. The phone company threatened to cut off my office lines for arrears. I told them to send me the details of the calls for review and that I would get back to them within 48 hours. They refused. I threatened to call the Prime Minister and Finance Minister--I had a bit of clout. They still refused. I threatened to go to their Director General's office and give him a good working over. They sent me the bills. I reviewed them and found that most of the calls were made between 7pm and 4am, when no one was in the office! I told them to stop the nonsense, and find out who was pirating my lines. They did...for two years, then tried the stunt again. Suffice to say that by then my French was really good as was my command of a local dialect, and I invoked some jou-jou and all was hunky dory in a few minutes.

All of that spilled into my mind as we had a houseful of American 20-somethings staying for the weekend, and they were struggling with 'driving on the wrong side of the road', and how funny the money was. Coming from the land of AC ever on, they had to be told that breezes are cooling...and that leaving doors open with AC running would not cool the world. But they ate the soused pig knuckles and thought they were tasty. They were happy for sun, when NYC was awash with rain. They enjoyed Caribbean hospitality aplenty and went home with great memories of how strangers can become friends.

My housekeeper does not have to deal with household bills, which her employers (we) pay. She manages her local mobile phone use and pays as she goes. She calls Guinea whenever she needs to on a phone whose bill I pay. She does not really fathom the difference between energy-saving bulbs and any other kind, as before it was light or no light sometimes at night.

I try to put myself in someone else's shoes when I encounter a difficulty, but it's not always easy. The shoes are so many different shapes and sizes.

Making The Most Of What You Have: A Look At A Paradox.

We economists are often wrestling with the problems of paradoxes. For example, we want to try to understand why countries with what appear to be the same attributes end up with very different outcomes. Or how countries with ample resources seem to remain mired in poverty as if they lacked everything.

From an economic and sociological point of view, we can look at countries that say have similar natural resources yet use them very differently. But we may not even need to go beyond a country. Take Guinea, for example, which lies on the west coast of Africa, almost due east of Barbados. It is a country but is made up of four natural regions:

• Guinea Forest (south east): densely forested; rich soil capable of supporting many staple agricultural products (rice, ground provision, etc., palms); wide variety of animals (elephants, panthers, hippopotamuses, etc. up until not so long ago); mixed tropical climate with heavy seasonal rains; varied ethnic groups.

• Coastal Guinea (west): fish are plentiful from the sea and rivers; arable flat land (good for growing many tropical fruits), some swampy lands (can support staples like rice); hot tropical climate with heavy seasonal rains; small number of ethnic groups.

• Middle Guinea/Fouta Djallon (centre-west): mountainous, but with lush vegetation; rivers; arable land; cooler climate, moderate rains; one principal ethnic group (Peuhls/Fulani).

• High Guinea (centre-east): flat, dry savannas; little arable land (supports ground provisions, some grains, other ground crops like peanuts); one principal ethnic group (Malinke/Mandingos).

The country has a centuries long history and was once part of the great Ghanaian Empire. Guinea has an Atlantic coast and is bounded by six different countries. It went through the process of Islamisation with the arrival of the Fulani (close to Arabs in origin), and is officially about 85-90 percent Muslim. The Fulani also brought nomadic traditions such as cattle grazing. It was colonized by the French and became the first African country to gain independence in the 1950s. The country was once the major African exporter of certain tropical fruit (pineapples, bananas). It has huge mineral deposits (especially bauxite, iron, diamonds, gold, and more), which have been mined for decades, but little processed in the country (one alumina plant exists). The country is mired in poverty, principally because its first president said to the French that he would rather his country was poor and independent rather than rich and enslaved. When the French left, they destroyed a lot of the infrastructure, but the country has had 50 years to overcome that. That poverty amidst natural richness is a huge paradox, and better economics brains than mine have not resolved it.

But, not looking at the global international position of the country, one can see internal paradoxes.

Cattle exist in the Forest area, but the people never 'exploited' the milk: they left the cows' milk for calves to drink: one consequence was that cows never offered income opportunities unless killed for their meat and its nutritional offering was as meat only. The Middle Guineans (Fulani) used cows' milk to make other products, such as fermented milk and yogurt, so they could travel with milk products and trade them for income, as well as have the income and nutrition from meat.

Fish available from the sea and rivers in the coastal area was eaten fresh but also 'preserved' by smoking. Fishing was largely small scale, by artisans off the coast (large industrial fishing came along later and took fish for export to Europe) on in rivers. Fish is plentiful but the country imports large amounts of fish.

Forest Guinea once produced enough rice to feed the whole country; it is said that Guinea has the potential to feed itself and its neighbours. But, in part as a result of mismanagement after the French left, and then the dislocation of refugees coming from bordering countries in civil war (Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire) over many years, land that could be cultivated was greatly reduced and the population in the area greatly increased. Guinea is now dependent on imported rice, and suffers because its foreign exchange earnings had greatly dwindled as mineral prices fell. The high price of rice has become a constant stick of social dynamite.

Up until about two years ago, all of Guinea's economic and political woes had never resulted in civil war, or any major civil disturbances. It was also never really at war with any neighbours, though there were/are border disputes.

Guinea's mineral wealth is dug up and exported in raw form, and most is processed elsewhere. For example, Guinea's bauxite is processed into alumina and aluminium in France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Canada, and the United States. Guinea gets the lower price for the raw product and industrial countries gain from the higher prices of the goods with added value.

Guinea's rivers are regarded as the 'water house of Africa' and it could produce enough hydroelectrictity to illuminate the whole country, yet most of the country does not have electricity. The capital has an electricity grid but it was often plagued by outages, so the city was famous for its darkness: imagine landing at night in a capital city and only seeing the runway lights of the airport, and a few lights dotted around the whole city.

Guinea has a musical culture that is envied in west Africa, yet hardly anyone outside that region knows of it. Guineans often live with the 'burden' of being multilingual. French is the official language, but most people know the main language of each natural region, so that means most people speak at least four languages. Yet, the country has levels of educational achievement that are frighteningly low, and a literacy rate put at around 30 percent (children aged over 15).

We have the idiom, 'You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear', meaning that if something in not very good to start with, you cannot do much to improve it. But, we often find evidence that this is not true. We also know about 'squandering your riches'.

When I look through my window and across my veranda in Barbados and see signs of what this country has done since its independence, I ponder the 'paradox of richness' or the so-called 'resource curse'. The academically inclined can read an interesting paper on the subject, entitled Uniquely cursed? The challenge of growth in resource rich countries.

Situation Vacant: No-On-The-Job Training Needed.

A good friend and former colleague of mine just lost his job at the start of this week (see Reuters report). I had to hold back a snarl. He had made a tough decision just over a year and a half ago to return to his native country, Guinea, to become the Finance Minister. The country had just come through a national crisis, and a new government of "national consensus" was being put in place.

His working career started simply enough (see summary). He was an engineer by initial training and only later gravitated to economics, a field in which he then got a doctorate in the US, taught and then worked at the highest levels.

He had done what many sons and daughters with origins in poor countries do after they get a good education. He migrated to a developed country (USA) to further study and work. He then did what is also common, he made a decision to go back home and "help". I remember once being told by Alassane Outtarra (former prime minister of Cote d'Ivoire; former deputy Managing Director of the IMF; former presidential candidate for his country) "Dont stay too long at the Fund." He meant that every economist at the IMF, who had come from another country, should aim to go back home and help his or her country develop. If they worked again at the Fund, it should always be at a higher position than the one they left. He really meant those who had come from poor, developing countries, but the advice could apply equally to say those who came from developed European countries.

My snarl was forming because my friend was yet another "sacrifice" on the altar of a president who has a long habit of dismissing successful officials, especially his prime ministers. Dr.Dore had chaired the organizing committee for his country's 50th anniversary celebrations, and his pparent failing had been to organize these poorly: there had been a number of diplomatic snafus, and some major protocol errors concerning foreign dignatories. He was also getting some heavy flak from the unions. His reported failings were not in having managed to get his country's economy back from a financial abyss--of hyperinflation, rapidly falling currency, and little growth--and into a shape where they could once again get financial assistance from institutions like the IMF and World Bank. Nor were they in the area of helping his country move to a point where they would get major debt relief, which would then open the way for more investment in education, health and other social services.

Our careers were not necessarily similar, though we had both worked a lot on European countries. We had each started at the IMF in the early 1990s and really only met in early 2003 when we were each designated to be "resident reprentatives" (similar to an ambassador but for the IMF) in Africa. He was to cover Senegal and Guinee-Bissau, both of which bordered his home country, Guinea. I was to cover Guinea (and later also Sierra Leone). We met and got to know each other better during a week of discussion with other resident representatives, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We stayed in touch as our work continued over the next 3-4 years. I visited Senegal and stayed in his residence, with him there or when he was not there. His office staff got to know me and take care of my needs whenever I was in Senegal, and often when I needed help for someone who had to pass through Senegal. He visited Guinea often to check on his family and home, and we would often talk in my office or at my residence about problems he had in his job, very rarely did we speak about problems in Guinea. We spoke more about our problems doing a job whose value is largely about "keeping the door open" to discussions. It's the only form of institutionalized daily contact with a country that the IMF has. But, being out of Washington, out of sight can often be out of mind--until there is some crisis.

My friend is from a part of Guinea that I adore, the Fouta Djallon, a lush mountainous region in the middle of the country, sometimes referred to as the Switzerland of Africa. That would be for the natural beauty, not for the wealth and efficiency. He helped me appreciate some of the beauty of a country whose natural resources are to die for--bauxite, gold, diamonds, rivers, rich soil--yet are mainly squandered or plundered. A country that could feed most of the subregion yet has to import the bulk of its food. A country with the potential to produce hydroelectricity for its whole area, yet cannot provide regular electricity even in its capital. A crying shame.

My snarl turned into a wry smile when I read a story at about the same time about America's equivalent to a Finance Minister, Secretary of the Treasury, Henry (Hank) Paulson (see picture; he's the clean shaven one). He, with Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke (the bearded one), is presiding over a possible financial calamity for the US and maybe most of the world--what some have referred to as the country's worst financial mess since the Great Depression. Mr. Paulson, a former CEO of Goldman Sachs, a major investment bank, admitted to Fox Business News: "We're not proud of all the mistakes that were made by many different people, different parties, failures of our regulatory system, failures of market discipline that got us here". Mr. Paulson acknowledged that the government's initial response to the crisis was probably too meek. For that admission, he was not asked to "fall on his sword" and resign, nor was he fired; he is left to soldier on and we hope help solve the problem. Different strokes for different folks.

My friend worked and lived in a country whose president has been there for nearly 25 years. He is what is called a military man, a former army general who initially got power in a coup. He happens to be in his mid-70s. His behaviour is often referred to as "erratic". Some of this sounds like a picture that is a bit familiar for one of the US presidential candidates.

When I started writing this, it was 2am in the morning. A short while after starting it a friend posted a Facebook item that the IMF's Managing Director (MD), Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK), was being investigated about an improper sexual relationship with a subordinate (see Wall Street Journal report). I honestly thought I was dreaming, but got confirmation from another friend/ex-colleague later in the morning. This MD had been in the post just about a year and last weekend was seeming like the toast of the town at the G7 Finance Ministers' Meetings. Now, he may be toast. Ironically, the former President of the IMF's sister organization, the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz had to resign about 15 months ago under the pressure surrounding his relationship with a staff member. I will be interested to see how this plays out and if in someway DSK avoids either resigning or being dismissed.

High office comes with many stresses, and always has the risk that dismissal will come for real faults or for no real faults at all. At the highest levels, good conduct and performance are no guarantee for success; nor is poor performance and conduct a sign that dismissal will follow. Most of us never get the dubious pleasure of working under such bizarre conditions.

What makes the news?

When you have lived in places as different as Barbados (middle income status; physically and economically very small and relatively unimportant in most senses), the USA (high income status; economically and physically huge; politically and economically very important in an international sense), Guinea (dirt poor; physically small for Africa but big compared to many countries; small national economy; politically and economically insignificant), you feel you have some perspective on things in the world. But that is all a matter of viewpoint, literally and figuratively. I found it interesting to approach the weekend with a thought on how what goes on in these places makes the news.

An adage says that all politics is local so I don't want to dismiss any place because when seen in a larger, world context they can be like dust specks. But is many places one could say the same about news. While the big news of the week to me and many others has been about subjects like the developments in the race for presidential candidates in the USA that does not mean that issues important to local life get left behind. So while major national and international newspapers such as The Times will have focused on that electoral fist fight, it has not found space for what goes on in Barbados or Guinea. My eyes have been on all three places.

So, the dominant US news. The real drama of "Super Tuesday" had to wait until Thursday. Mitt Romney, was not far behind the front runner, John McCain, but decided that to help his party he would pull out of the race to become the presidential nominee for the Republican Party. He had spent a reported US$ 35 million of his own money to finance his now failed campaign (see report in The Times). He had great credientials (see Romney's website). He worked as a vice president for Bain and Co. in the late 1970s/early 1980s. In 1984, he founded Bain Capital, which became one of the nation's most accomplished venture capital and investment companies. In 1999 he left Bain Capital to take over as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and subsequently helped save 2002 Winter Olympics in that city. He was elected in 2002 as the 70th Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and left that office January 2007. His record of successful financial and business management and taking hard decisions in both private and public sectors was not enough in itself to get his nominated. Such is life in politics.

In Barbados, we can get down to earth, so to speak and focus on the story that had me wondering about what people find important. In a week when a bunch of burglars were caught who preyed on empty houses and targeted laptops and cell phones, other thiefs were getting some meatier goods. Mr. Lionel Hill, a supermarket owner, was glad that police found and recovered some 165 (of 195) buckets of pigtails that had been stolen from his business, valued at B$ 20,000 [US$10,000] (see report in Nation). If you are from the Caribbean you will know the many dishes that need pig tails (salted or fresh). I discovered a new dish recently of barbequed pigtails and would have loved to get my jaws around some of those buckets.

As regards, Guinea, all eyes in that country--mired in poverty and political loop-di-loop--had been focused on how the national team was faring in the African Nations Cup, being played in Accra, Ghana. The tournament had some coverage in the local papers. I watched some games online. After playing well enough to get through to the quarter finals, Guinea then had to face the losing finalists from two years ago, Cote d'Ivoire, with their stellar line up including Kalou, Drogba and others. They had to enter that game without their star player, Feindouno, who scored two goals in the previous game against Morocco, then had lost his sense of perspective and got himself expelled for stamping on an opponent.(You can see from the picture that he can use his feet well.) Inevitably, Cote d'Ivoire won 5-0. So, Guinea will miss out on the ultimate glory of being finalists. The team members can get back to playing for their clubs, many abroad. The country can refocus on whether it will go on indefinite strike to get more political change.

The final game of the tournament in Ghana will be between Cameroon (the "Lions"; who devoured the hosts) and Egypt (the "Pharoahs", who beat Cote d'Ivoire's lions convincingly). How fitting that the contest will come down to that apt challenge. Certainly, the Lions have plenty of bite and the tactical build up with triangles that is a part of the Egyptian game will be well tested. All I hope now is that I can find a television channel that will show the game tomorrow.

Hooray for Guinea

For three years I worked to try to help the government of Guinea to get an economic stabilization program with the IMF, but as they say, things did not work out. After I left in October 2006, the socio-political situation became very tense culminating with national strikes in January during which many people were killed by the security forces. The demand of the population was for a change of government and that happened. I wont go into all the details of how that was achieved.

The new government was made up of ministers who were all new to government, and mainly techocrats, including a good friend who became Finance Minister. Growth had been slow (1-2% a year) and inflation high (30-40% a year), and the exchange rate had depreciated rapidly. The new government set about improving economic performance. Most notably inflation was nearly halved and the exchange rate appreciated and has since stabilized. A first reward for a commitment to economic reform came yesterday when the IMF's Executive Board approved a new support program for Guinea (see details from IMF web site).

The money that comes with that support is only part of the benefit. Agreement with the IMF opens the door for other donor agencies such as the European Commission and the World Bank to provide direct budget support. That additional finance should help achieve many economic and social goals.

I wont go further than that at this stage. Guinea has had a history of slipping off the rails quickly, but I hope that this time the train will stay on its tracks long enough to give a solid base and hope for this country of 9 million very poor people.

For all my friends in Guinea I hope that this "present" coming ahead of Christmas will be a welcome gift.

Guinea is waiting for change

During my two week return visit to Guinea a lot of people asked me if I noticed any major changes. I said that the first thing that I noticed immediately was the presence of lights as I entered the city by plane. To many travellers this may seem bizarre, but Conakry was known as the "dark capital". For years governments had been unable to provide regular and reliable electricity, even though the country has enormous hydroelectric generating capacity. Now on the road from the airport, which has recently been upgraded, there are solar powered pylons lighting the route.

There were other superficial positive changes that will also bring longer lasting benefits, such as the widening of the market for mobile phones, with four operators and a fifth coming soon. Telecommunication is the modern equivalent of a highway to one's door. Once access has been given, then all other places become accessible. There is also no limit to how people will use telecoms. Many recent stories of developing countries tell of how traders are using mobile phones to make markets; of how public opinion and information are spread by phone calls, etc. Just the fact t hat many people can easily maintain contact with others overseas brings tumbling down many barriers. The capabilities of modern phones also opens up a world of audio and visual knowledge. We have heard stories of how a robbery has been filmed by a cell phone. I know of people taping conversations with phones. Those who travel a lot know that many airports ban the use of cell phones until one has passed through Customs and immigration. And as Orwell wrote, "knowledge is power".

There are also some constants, such as the throngs of people on the main street in Conakry waiting for taxis (see picture above). There are the groups of youths playing football in the street. Future stars? Who knows? I have already written about the daily grind.

Guinea recently went through a major "social upheaval", when in January this year a national strike developed into a major push for political change, resulting in the death of over 30 people (in terms of official figures), and led to a change of government with one built around consensus and largely free of people who had previously held ministerial office. Now, over nice months later, the unspoken cry is for the change expected and promised after those strikes. There is a sense of foreboding as people assess the value of the deaths and social strain.


One area of life that I have seen where change is mixed is in the public administration. Public servants do not have a natural sense of serving the public, and many have been accused of privatizing the public service: only if one pays will one get service, and that payment does not go to the State. A sense of seriousness amongst public officials is something that is often lacking: poor comportment, sloppy dress, attitudes that show little care for those who seek service or make use of public building. This is not unique to Guinea and many will say it is a universal problem of public adminstration. I know many public servants who work so hard it's unimaginable how they keep living as they seem to shoulder every issue and have the ability to resolve many of them with good ideas. The ideas often fall due to lack of commitment on the part of politicians or opposition from other public officials, but dont deny that the ability is there.


How can one motivate most public servants to give that same high percentage to their work? I often talk of "sanctions", meaning that poor work has a harsh consequence with the ultimate being dismissal. Yes, that will bring social problems as a bread winner and family has to do without bread. But getting money on false pretences is theft. Some of the public administration failures are due to an unwillingness to recognize some simple truths, such as this.


In the early-1990s, Guinea suffered a failed coup and one of the symbols is the carcass of a bombarded "palace" (which has been built for African Union conferences and major public meetings etc). That it was never repaired has been for me a symbol of resistance to change; like holding on to old bus tickets. Now, I see that a set of Asian workers (Koreans, I understand) have begun to strip it down and begin refurbishing.
It may all be part of celebrations for Guinea's 50th anniversary of independence, in 2008, but it is a nontrivial development in my mind, and is more than cosmetic. Sometimes new social positions have to be built on new physical structures and this may be one of those cases.

Village life in Guinea

A Guinean friend invited me to lunch on Sunday, along with some other foreign friends who have worked in Guinea for some time. We then visited the plantation that my Guinean friend is developing. He started with 2 hectares and has now acquired 20 hectares. He is a true urbanite but has a dream to see his plantation grow to be a major producer of oranges, pineapples, bananas, palm oil seeds, rice, and more. He has managed to get the confidence of villagers, which has allowed him to buy more land. In exchange for their faith in him he has loose arrangements that allow them to farm some areas for their own purposes.

Guinea's president has prided himself on being a peasant and urged his citizens to follow his examples. This is a trend that many Guineans have tried to develop. Not many can take advantage of the possibilities, but it is interesting that both young and old office workers are trying to put down some roots in land, usually in areas where they have family contacts. There are many risks, though mostly minor. The risks involve theft of crops and supplies. They include weather and nature-related threats: Guinea has rain in overabundance during July-September but that can aid and destroy. Access is always a problem, but can also limit unwanted visitors. Managing such plantations from a distance is not a good option, and these new farmers will soon have to made decisions about what are their priorities. Depending on family members is a good way to limit risks, but is no guarantee.

In a country where the daily grind can be really burdensome this return to the land can also be therapeutic, and help keep people sane. That may be a romantic notion but it's in keeping with comments that the new farmers make. It's a return to some basic and important elements of national life. If children can be involved then it's also a good way to keep their lives well focused.

I wish my new farmer friend much success and will be keeping an eye on how his plantation develops.

Getting through a day in Conakry

One of the hard facts of life in a truly poor country is the extent to which most people have to live from day to day. Resolving today's problem of basic needs for food, water, electricity, transport, just gets you to tomorrow and having to resolve them again. And in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the problems are major. For food, most of us in the Caribbean, Europe and North America are not too concerned about having to buy food for today's meal. But we have have lost the habit of having to do that every day: we have storage possibilities like fridges and freezers to deal with perishables, and we can often stock a lot of non-perishables. For water, we turn on the tap and water comes out; it's clean and it's usually plentiful. We have to deal with occasional outages, but we are not used to having to tote buckets of water, or deal with a tap that gives no water at all, perhaps for days, or water that comes out looking like soup. For electricity, we have become used to "always on". We dont really have to deal with outages that last for more than a few hours, and only occasionally. We would find it really shocking to have no electricity most of most days, or at best two days in seven. While we rail (bad pun) against traffic congestion or the lack of good public transport, it's relative. Buses that are only once every 15 minutes, for example. If you have lived in places like London or New York with good bus and subway systems, you think of overcrowding as a regular irritant during rush hour, meaning having to stand with lots of other people for perhaps a 15-30 minute ride. How about sitting in a minivan, full to overflowing, and going along dusty, bumpy roads for about 2 hours and doing that twice a day for five days a week? Those things that we are not accustomed to are part of the daily grind in Guinea, and many poor countries.

What is pitiful is that public adminstrations have not been short of money to deal with these problems, but the money has rarely touched the solutions. More pitiful in the case of Guinea is that you have water in abundance and can generate enough hydroelectricity, but poor management and execution has left the country struggling to give basic services. What serves as transport is often a mix of tired, second hand vehicles that are always full of people and their goods. You have to get used to seeing a small car full of people, with chickens, wood, steel bars, and water drums, scraping the ground in the city or on some country road. When a taxi comes along, it's survival of the fittest, and if you feel like saying "After you" then get ready to wait a long time. Most 5 seater cars used as taxis often carry 7-8 people.

You have to get used to the fact that with little income and usually no savings a day's spending may not get you through the day. Get used to broken down cars, because people have enough money to buy a little petrol, or parts cannot be replaced.

One of the major problems with food is dependence on imported "essentials". We know in the Caribbean how much we love rice. In Guinea, a day starting without rice, and I mean for breakfast, is a day not started. So, huge quantities of rice are imported, even though the country can easily be self-sufficient in rice.
Sounds familiar? Here, it arrives in large 50 kilogram sacks and are loaded and loaded by hand. If a truck breaks down, it takes little time for people to help distribute the contents!

Having a solid income is no guarantee that these things will not affect you. They may hit you less directly, but they may hit your staff and lot, and so affect you indirectly. So, think about some of these things during a normally uneventful Sunday.

Caught off guard...again

Guinea has a reputation for being a country where people lack discipline: lots of laws and rules exist but few are followed or implemented. People also employ some interesting double logic, which is somewhat like a child covering its eyes and saying "You cant see me". The picture is one such example. I wanted to show the gendarmes in the entrance lobby of a government office doing exactly what they were doing: they were eating raw peanuts and the table was piled with the husks. Nothing terrible, except that many would feel that it's not a good image. But as soon as my camera came out they removed the evidence. I pointed out that as I and everyone else passing through the lobby had clearly seen what was going on, removing the trash did not change that fact. But for them it did. If it's not in the picture then it was never there, ne c'est pas?

To go back to my previous blog about security guards (see link), it was comforting to hear from some Guinean friends that sleeping on the job is a common problem (and supports my theory that it's part of the training--the reality is that these guys work other jobs during the daytime and need to catch some sleep). So, is stealing diesel. Again, using the "see no evil" notion. With no evidence of a break-in the guards will swear that they have no idea how the diesel is being reduced at a rate faster than is being used by the generator. I guess that walking off with a gallon a day does not count. Duh!

Working children

When you are poor and have to find money wherever you can you dont focus on things that come high on the agenda of people who are more comfortable and can spend more time thinking about how they can better the world rather than how to get food into their stomach. A lot of people in developed countries rail against "child labour". In places like Guinea, as was the cases in developed countries several decades ago, sending young children out to work is normal. The family, amongst other things, has long been an economic unit, and children need to know how to earn their keep.

The children in this article are also the lucky ones. They can work on a stall instead of walking the streets with trays of food on their heads trying to find customers. They look quite clean and decently fed. Most satisfying, the young Peuhl girl (one of Guinea's ethnic groups, whose women often dress in indigo cloth), who was working nearing a roundabout at Enco 5, was so pleased to see herself on the digital camera. Guinea's people on one level are very simple and easy to please. I wont go beyond that at this stage. This child was pleased just by seeing herself in living colour.

Caught off guard

Anyone who has ever had security guards working for them knows that they go to a well developed training school for sleeping on the job. They usually save their sleeping for the times when they should be working, especially at night.

During my time in Guinea between 2003-2006 I had to wake my guards several times and remind them that they should be awake to be able to at least defend themselves. Their company told me that if this happened I was to take their night stick and radio and then report the incident to the company. I had other ideas. I once doused one guard with water, only to be assured that "I was not sleeping!" My funniest event was one night when I threw stones to wake the guard and then more stones to create noises elsewhere, and while he searched I took his radio and night stick. He searched frantically for these when he got back to his post, so I threw more stones for him to chase then replaced the items. He came back looking very curious and very alert. He did not sleep the rest of the night. But when I asked him in the morning if everything had been quiet in the night he said "Nothing strange to report." My final story to share was of a sleeping guard, whom I photographed, and left him the print of himself sleeping. When asked if he had slept during the night, he said "I was very tired but I never slept."

The picture attached here is of a new standard in sleeping on the job. The guard works in a government ministry and obviously thought nothing of sleeping under the stairs in the entrance lobby of the ministry. I think this behaviour needs no comment.

Out of Africa

Rhian's nanny from Guinea arrived in Barbados on February 24. This may never feature in any formal history of Guinea, but it was the end of an amazing journey. At the time, Guinea was locked in a civil struggle as unions had called a series of national strikes in January and February, which had been well supported, and had obtained many concessions from President Conte and his government. Over 100 people had been killed during the strikes as the security forces responded brutally to the public unrest. Georgette's journey had not been simple. She had managed to book a ticket to Dakar with Air Senegal and board a plane for the designated day, even though the airline had cancelled several flights and the airport was a mass of confusion as those who had not yet been able to travel sought to get on a flight. Good friends of ours in Dakar, met Georgette in Dakar and ensured that she had a good day's rest before she headed on to the next flight to New York.

New York was just getting another blast of cold weather as Georgette travelled, but thanks to Bronwyn, Georgette managed to stay warm and not suffer another climate shock. Events also worked well when the Barbados Embassy in New York sent a letter permitting Georgette's travel without needing to make a visit to the embassy. So, with all the pieces falling nicely into place the Air Jamaica flight from New York to Barbados was a relative piece of cake.

It should be no surprise that Rhian was very pleased to see Georgette again, even though it was just in the last week of January that Georgette had left the US to go back to Guinea, where she needed to sort out her family arrangements before she tried to rejoin us.

Georgette has settled into Bajan life as we live it, and is making a good effort with improving her English. Rhian gets more practice with her French now. We have also found as we broaden our social activities that there are French-speakers in some unexpected places. The rector's wife at St. Barnabas church (which we have attended the past 3 weeks) is a French teacher and she gladly interpreted for the congregation when we were presented as "visitors" at a Sunday service. The owner of an ice cream parlour/grill bar, who was born in England of Bajan parents, but also lived in Canada and the US, gladly engaged Georgette and Rhian with his French one evening.

Now, we have to wait for bureaucracy to move at a good pace so that Georgette can get her work permit. We'll keep you posted on how that goes.