Protest, Congolese style

Bureaucrats love to show their power by taking their time. The longer they take, the more their hapless subjects have to grovel to get their case attended to. Nowhere is this tactic more effective than in the Congo, where there is, in effect, no likelihood of getting redress unless it is by paying huge sums of money.

One of the recent cases of such delay has been in lifting a ban on an airline which had a crash. The whole fleet was instantly grounded, and before long it looked as though the matter would drag on until the final results of the enquiry were released many months, if not years, later. So far, there’s not been a tweet.

Another case hit the headlines recently. The Supreme Council for Audiovisual and Communication Affairs, which is responsible for regulating the media, had stopped taking any decisions. This has been going on for a very long time, and the 400 recognised radio stations were up in arms about the delays. It seems that the cause, in this case, was less a matter of deliberate delaying tactics than a complete breakdown of the system, so something had to be done. 

But instead of taking the traditional route of confrontation, for example by demanding action in radio and television interviews, and getting massive press coverage of the misuse of power by the Council, or even public demonstrations, they (the radio and TV stations affected) published this advertisement which I find delightfully quaint:

We, the Federation of Radios Stations in the Congo (FRSC), with 400 members operating in all 11 provinces of the DRC, met on Thursday 22 March 2012 in an extraordinary session;

Note the current crisis at the Supreme Council for Audiovisual and Communication Affairs (SCACA) regarding its image;

Knowing that SCACA was created as a citizen’s institution in support of democracy;

Considering that the president of this institution is our guide;

Confident in the capacity of the members of SCACA to deal with this internal crisis;

Concerned with the professional well-being of the media in the DRC, with peace and national concord;

Seeing the urgency and necessity

Declare as follows:

1.     Members of SCACA must recall that they have a onerous task to regulate the media throughout the country, and the future of the media depend largely on their work within the institution;

2.     The FRSC asks the esteemed councillors of the SCACA and members of its administration to show great wisdom and great maturity in preserving peace between each other and national unity, and as a support for sustainable development in our country;

3.     The FRSC reiterates its total support and all its confidence in the president of the SCACA in the person of Mr, the Abbott Jean Bosco Bahala;

4.     The Federation recalls that the media constitute the forum, par excellence, for popular expression, and that they are unchallengeable within the Congolese state as a medium of communication;

5.     The FRSC invites the esteemed councillors and members of the administration to sit around the same table, placing, above all else, the needs of the population in doing their jobs and undertaking the mission entrusted to them so that the problems can be solved internally, and avoid external interference.

6.     The FRSC invites the President of SCACA, as a good father of the family, to expedite dialogue to reinforce collaboration and harmony within the Council for the welfare of the profession and the whole nation;

7.     Finally the FRSC appreciates how the situation has evolved while calling on the wisdom of everyone in preserving democratic values.

Did it work? We’ll have to wait and see.

African Time

It sounds like a patronising concept, a code used by foreigners for the phenomenon that “they” are always late. But no, it’s not just foreigners who use the term – it’s a term widely used by Africans themselves, to describe their strange timekeeping habits. Is it a cultural phenomenon, or is it due to over-commitment, laziness, lack of consideration, or all of the above?

I remember that when I used to work in Nairobi that my American boss, who was a scientist by training, and knew full well about timekeeping, was always late for appointments with government people. Possibly he was demonstrating that more than one can play at that game.

The prevalence of African time definitely varies between countries. In Zimbabwe, for example, it’s not really in fashion. I recall how City Councillors who were late for a meeting by even a second were excluded by the closure, ON THE DOT, of the council chamber doors. And it worked – after the first one or two cases of missing meetings casual timekeeping was transformed into meticulous timekeeping. The Congo, though, is greatly enamoured of African time.

Take the recent case where are group of entrepreneurs was invited to be briefed for an important business opportunity by the Mayor. They received invitations, imploring them to be present by 9.00 a.m. We decided we should meet him before it started so that we could run over the planned programme with him. Knowing that most people would turn up late, we proposed that we meet him at 9.00 so that we would have at least a quarter of an hour before it started. No, no, he said, we should meet at 8.30.

We were marginally impressed that he was keen to get the meeting started on time and arrived punctually. When did he arrive? Forty minutes late. Then, following our little meeting, he vanished, and only appeared for the “important” meeting, supposed to start at 9.00, at 10.51.  No apologies.

It’s not just being late for meetings – it’s any concept of planning the weeks and days in advance which doesn’t work so well. By way of a contrast, I was appalled when, in Holland, it was normally impossible to get an appointment to see someone with less than a week’s notice – even the Director of your own institution who was working just down the passage.

Back to the Congo: many have been the frustrations when international experts make an appointment several weeks in advance only to find that, at the appointed time, the person concerned is not just late, but not even in town. “No, you see,” goes the explanation, “he was called to Kinshasa (to see the Minister, for a workshop, etc etc).” Indeed it’s usually much easier and more efficient to make an appointment fifteen minutes ahead than fifteen days ahead. People are free with their phone numbers, and all it takes is one call and you’re in.

The downside of this is that someone else is, because of your appointment, bumped from an opportunity to meet the big man, and has to hang around for another few hours, if not more.

In the end it’s all a power play. By being willing to see you at short notice the big man is showing you respect, and in these matters a personal relationship – even such a tenuous one, which has been established by nothing more than a phone call – counts for far more than the dead entry in his secretary’s diary.