The week began pretty much like any other: Monday I shadowed Elizabeth in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Clinic while she saw HIV-infected children. Tuesday I continued work on the ISAAC study, running our weekly home-based care worker meeting and doing some quality assurance on completed questionnaires. In the afternoon Rick and I went to our weekly Swahili lesson and took turns pushing the boundaries of inappropriate slang with our teacher. On Wednesday, the Chinese New Year, Rick and I continued our training for the Kilimanjaro half marathon by running up to the Mweka gate of Mount Kilimanjaro and back (a total of around 15 km). That night I celebrated the Year of the Rat by enjoying some take-out with Meghan and James from our favorite Chinese restaurant.
And then Thursday arrived.
On Thursday morning I woke up feeling like someone had put me in a burlap sack and beaten me throughout the night (needless to say, I have a lot more training to do before the big race). After struggling out of bed, I went through with my daily routine: boiling water for coffee, jiggering with the toaster until it worked and making sure my clothes were free of mango flies.
Despite being locked in the garage for security reasons, my new rooster Horatio was crowing his little heart out and likely driving the two hens towards complete deafness. I was shaken with each piercing call but was still relieved that his nighttime home had not altered his circadian rhythm too much.
Image: The new chickens. This is the best shot I could get because they're a bit shy. I'm hoping that with my nightly bedtime stories this will begin to change.
As I arrived at work, whisperings of something big started to circulate. “Corruption in the government,” “many big names will be forced to resign,” “Andrew, have you been working out?” Ok, the last one caught me off guard but the others seem like pretty standard news in these parts.
Don’t get me wrong. Considering the political atmosphere of the region, Tanzania deserves its reputation as one of the most stable governments in all of East Africa. But I've been told corruption is something that has gone hand-in-hand with politics for a long time here and, despite setting an example for others in the region, Tanzania has had a few bad apples.
For instance, in January of this year the central Bank of Tanzania’s governor Daudi Ballali was sacked for making an irregular payment of $117 million. He’s since been in the US receiving medical treatment (and probably chilling on Puff Daddy’s yacht with a bottle of Cristal).
Even the most beautiful game is not free from the grasp of corruption. During my soccer match last weekend, our team struggled to hold onto the lead as the referee called every little infraction on us and swallowed his whistle when we were violently dragged to the ground. The last straw was a penalty kick he awarded for the opposition after one of their players hit the ball with his hand. The elders on our team rushed out to grab the ball and instructed us to walk off the field in protest. It was later discovered that the opposition had planted the referee in hopes of avenging their loss to us the previous weekend.
Now the Tanzanian Prime Minister has joined the list of those alledged to be involved in corruption along with Ballili and the bandit referee. As if the prime minister's name isn't enough the scandal became even more important to me when I heard that it was related to power outages, which ruin my afternoon teas and hot showers on a regular basis.
The story is that Richmond Development Company, a Texas based energy provider, was paid $172.5 million to generate 100 megawatts of electricity during Tanzania’s power crisis of 2006. An independent report released on Thursday stated that Richmond delivered generators late and faulty, or not at all. The deal was reportedly costing the Tanzanian people tens of thousands of dollars a day.
The report’s authors also claimed that the Prime Minister Edward Lowassa had instructed members in the ministry of Energy and Minerals to disqualify other bidders and award the contract to Richmond. The Texas energy company was given the job despite having no previous track record, lacking expertise and being financially incapacitated. In the wake of the scandal, Lowassa and both the current and previous energy ministers have resigned and the President has dissolved the cabinet.
Image: (Former) Tanzanian Prime Minister Lowassa scowls at justice
Pretty slick moves from Richmond, though. Not to be outdone by other Texas “infrastructure developers” Halliburton and Enron, they really executed a tremendous scam to top them. Halliburton had pulled off the no-bid contract move with the US government, Enron mastered complete screwing over their customers (all you Californians know what I’m talking about), but Richmond knocked both out in one deal. To make it even more impressive, so far, they’re the only party shielded from the finger of blame.
This scandal could not come at a worse time: a week after Tanzanian President Kikwete was elected African Union chairperson and a week before President Bush’s visit to Tanzania.
Image: President Bush showing off a particularly promising idea for future investment in Tanzania. Hey, it worked for Tennessee.
Although the shifty energy deal is definitely serious, it is commendable that an independent investigation was carried out and named the responsible parties, who quickly tendered their resignations. Predictably, as the Prime Minister left he took a couple shots at those who carried out his undoing.
“We are all politicians,” PM Lowassa said after the report’s findings were announced. “If we are judged so unfairly, then who will be spared, and how will justice be dispensed to ordinary people?” I guess things are getting pretty out of hand when the “extraordinary” members of the political elite have to step down for such a miniscule misdeed.
Well, not unlike Lowassa, I found myself trying so hard to point the finger elsewhere for my own massive foible on Friday morning. After breakfast I thought it would be nice to take my three new chickens from their fortress in the garage to the chicken coop so they could enjoy the morning’s weather.
Normally this task falls to Grace, who is much more experienced in this realm, but I thought there was no way I could screw this small task up. I was wrong.
I came into the garage, closed the door behind me and planned my approach to the chickens. I figured the best way would be to go after the rooster Horatio, who was the biggest and most dominant. Horatio had other ideas as he gave me a sweet side-step move that would have made Barry Sanders blush and scooted his way out the door.
For the next half hour I ran around the yard, through bushes and under barbed wire to try to catch up to the elusive bird but I couldn’t get closer than 10 feet. Meanwhile, my house mama Grace and housemate Sheri looked on laughing and enraging me further with commentary on my hopeless attempts.
Image: Horatio on the run. I would have tried to get a picture of me chasing him but unfortunately my camera's zoom feature doesn't span that far out.
Guess I can learn a lesson from Richmond Development Company after all – don’t take a job for which you are horribly unqualified.
