Rwanda, idleness and folly...sorry

It's all go at the GLCSS at the moment, as we work on compiling a database of Rwandan government ministers and officials for a client.

All we need are biographical details of the relevant people in each ministry. Simple enough, I thought, blissfully unaware of the full extent of African bureaucracy.

But the job of collecting a few details about just seven officials in the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI) has turned into an all-day session, involving frequent trips back and forth from the office to the ministry in the blazing heat.

The first time I went, my contact interrogated me for a good half hour, appearing not to trust anything I said and asking me at least four times "What is your purpose here?"

That question was far too philosophical for me, so I offered instead to get a letter from my boss, affirming that I was not in fact a deranged stalker but working on a legitimate project.

Once I came back with my letter, things got complicated. Not only had my contact seemingly forgotten everything we had talked about earlier, but she brought a colleague into the debate for good measure.

I watched with the patience of a saint as they spoke for at least half an hour in Kinyarwanda, gesturing towards me, at each other, at the letters and, at one point, nearly coming to blows.

Finally, having spent a good hour or two in the ministry, I was told, without a shred of irony, that I should just have e-mailed the officials in question, instead of coming down to the ministry and wasting everybody’s time.

You could have told me that in the first place, I thought, but smiled gratefully and asked them to forward my letter anyway. Back I went to the GLCSS, ready to kill seven birds with one stone by simply e-mailing them my questions.

Following the instructions I’d been given, I clicked on the part of the MINAGRI website marked 'Staff emails'...and found that only staff have access.

This one will run and run. That is, if I don't go postal first.

Apologies

Sorry to all those who've found that the link to 'this fun site' in Monday's second post is broken. It did at the time, but i'm guessing their server crashed or something.

I'll leave it up just in case they get it working again and thanks to all those who pointed it out.

To make up for it, i'll once again post this YouTube video which nearly made me choke to death on a malteser.

Save our FOI

I've caught onto this a little late, what with being 4,500 feet up a hill in the middle of Central Africa, but the Press Gazette has launched a campaign against the Government's plans to change the Freedom of Information Act.

The Act seemed like manna from heaven for journalists when it was passed in 2000, offering access to information held by public authorities and thereby ushering in a new era of transparency.

In practice it has not quite that easy. Requests often take a long time to be answered and are sometimes turned down for reasons of cost, or because they are designated 'vexatious'. Nonetheless, intelligent use of FOI was developing into one of the most useful arrows in the reporter's quiver.

Now the Government intends to amend the Act to allow authorities wider scope for turning down requests on grounds of cost. By the government's own estimate, this will result in roughly 17,000 extra refusals per year, out of 100,000 total requests. For the arithmetically challenged, that's a whopping 17%.

Needless to say, the real target of these proposals are journalists, who are no doubt a wearying irritant to those civil servants who are tasked with handling FOI inquiries. But is laughable to turn around seven years on and complain that journalists are using the Act too much. 'Sorry chaps, did we say transparent? We meant fuzzy.'

So if you believe you have the right to know how efficiently your council manages its waste, what the new footbridge cost, or even how much the mayor spent on toilet paper last year, please join the Press Gazette campaign, 'Don't Kill FOI'.

Are you a man of the world?

For the travellers amongst you, have a look at this fun site brought to my attention by blogger buddy Juliette.

There's nothing like retracing your steps to make you realise that you've been practically nowhere.

Ducks to water

One week into my Rwandan adventure and all is still rosy in the ‘Switzerland of Africa’.

I’m guessing whoever came up with that phrase had never been to at least one of the two countries and possibly to neither of them, but that’s by the by.

Training work at the GLCSS is going well, with two new trainees joining us this week. Straight away they have shown their aptitude for the editing tasks I’ve set them, even pointing out where I might have done better in my ‘perfect examples’.

Today we looked at ways to make the introduction to an article as snappy and as informative as possible. Having already studied journalism here in Rwanda, they took to it like ducks to water and I’m expecting great things from them.

Slowly but surely, the GLCSS is assembling a team of highly-skilled journalists, who will in time offer a unique resource for agencies looking for African reporting on African issues at African prices.

A great bunch of lads. Only problem is, they’re all bloody Arsenal fans.

Nobody’s perfect.