Full day's campaigning today assisted by a team of three international observers from Uganda. They are all members of the democratic opposition party and likened their situation to the MDC in Zimbabwe. Their President is also long-serving and has altered the constitution so that there is no limit to his term of office. He is openly corrupt. They are sick of the despot, but they risk imprisonment and worse in their fight for democracy.
As it's their first time outside Africa it's also interesting to get their initial thoughts on England. The mother of five said that she had seen white people before, but never so many at the same time. The "Chairman" opined that Birmingham, Heathrow and London look much the same as each other to him and reckoned he'd spotted some 150 year olds (the life expectancy in Uganda is 47). The "Speaker" is a great guy and is rightly upset that the Queen will be visiting Uganda in November and giving the sitting president a propaganda coup. I hope to do more detailed interviews with my assistants later in the week and maybe show them some sights away from the suburban terrain that we are covering as part of the campaign.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Museveni has always been a scumbag - he just seemed to please the West - hence billions more down the drain - my old friend Henry Gombya knew a lot about Museveni...
I believe he is selling off game parks and rainforests to foreign investors who are willing to provide him with the cash that he needs for bribes and propaganda.
PT I would be interested to know if you have feedback from some of the white working class people in Brum. I imagine they are not so taken with Cameron's brand of conservatism. How are the BNP doing?
Good on you, Mr PT!
I remember donkey's years ago, having finished a stint working in west Africa, I invited a few good friends from Ghana across for a visit.
They declared our version of Guinness not a patch on the 'real' stuff, brewed by the Star Brewery in Lagos, Nigeria. And had to be extricated from an embarrassing misunderstanding arising from a belief that barmaids in English pubs were either prostitutes or procurers (as they were at home).
Just to show how long ago this was, it was when the makers of 'Shake 'n Vac' were running a saturation TV ad campaign. When I once asked one of the lads to vacuum the living room, and hearing no action, I went to investigate and found him searching the cupboards.
"Where" he demanded "is the stuff you have to sprinkle?"
All good blokes and a privilege to have made as friends.
Mens sana - in May 2006 the BNP ran a full slate in Birmingham and didn't get any seats. I don't think that the background to the election is any better for them this time. Nobody has mentioned immigration or the BNP on the door, but as I have had an African observer shadowing me, maybe that's not so surprising.
More interesting for me is how personal some of the Labour campaigns have been. Really vitriolic stuff against the Tory candidates in certain Birmingham wards. As Cameron would say "rattled".
Yup, I guess a 7 foot, 25 stone Ugandan election monitor on your shoulder might discourage expression of any pro BNP sentiment
Post a Comment