It’s a strange paradox. This country, known for the
depradations of bandits and revolutionary groups, with infrastructure that is
far worse than it was in colonial times, and an economy so bad that public
servants either don’t get paid, or get paid very late; this mad country can
really get things done.
We look with amazement at the fact that Europe had to allow
at least a year for certain types of plastic to be banned, and the painfully
slow adoption of rules to charge for plastic supermarket bags.
Not here. The Governor of Kinshasa decided that plastic
shopping bags should be outlawed and lo and behold within a week, yes, just one
week, they had gone. Shopkeepers scrambled for alternatives: paper bags were
one alternative, and another was woven plastic bags of the sort that hawkers
use. These are quite expensive, so of course they charge for them. Some smaller shops are still surreptitiously
using plastic bags, and the women hawkers selling vegetables seem to have a
limitless supply of Obama bags (see photo)
Much the same happened with taxis. Most taxis are little cars,
usually with plenty of dents. They operate on a sharing basis, and try and cram
in as many people as possible. For a short while the rule was that they should
have stripes down the side in the colours of the Congolese flag. So there was a
rush to get colours painted on. But there was no rule about how wide the
stripes should be or strictly speaking what shape. So the net result was
somewhat disorganized. This annoyed the Governor who decreed that henceforth all
taxis and mini-buses should be painted yellow. NOW. And must have a City-issued
licence sticker on both front doors.
The next day the town was like a morgue as all taxi owners
rushed to get their cars sprayed yellow. But . . . within a week there they
were. Yellow everywhere, and all with the official stickers on their doors.
Quite how it was done has never been explained, but done it was. To me it was
amazing that there was enough yellow paint to go around, because there are
thousands and thousands of these taxis – probably 40% of all cars.
Some time ago there was an outbreak of polio in the other
Congo – across the river. Within three days the streets were flooded with
volunteers offering polio vaccine – the sort you take by mouth. At the entrance
of shops, at traffic lights, in the airports, everywhere there were girls with
neat waistcoats proclaiming that they were vaccinators (organized and paid by
UNICEF.but with 100% government backing). Polio was stopped in its tracks.
Maybe it’s because the law is weak that things can be done
so fast. But whatever the reason, it’s impressive.
