After Africa

Favourite photo of today: On the market in Athens

Meandering in Greece

Photos from one of the few countries in Europe I've never been to before...

#walktowork #walk2work #ugandawalks

Walk-to-Work is a campaign running at present in several Ugandan cities, organised by the opposition who according to Uganda Talks 'are protesting the spiraling inflation and rising fuel and general commodity prices in the country. The police accuse the opposition of inciting the public against the government'.

Hard to figure out what exactly is happening in what order. Like Opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye was shot and injured, but with what, where and to what hospital was he taken? And what's the story about 'walking-permits'? And what will happen if more people join the 'walks' in the days to come?

According to a message from the Royal Danish Embassy in Kampala 140411:'The walk-to-work campaign is still on, many protests in different places in Kampala today and there is heavy police presence in certain areas, disturbances cannot be ruled out. Please exercise vigilance. Since the campaign is announced to continue on Mondays and Thursdays in the weeks ahead, please be reminded to keep yourself informed through local media, contacts etc. and to exercise the necessary caution.'

Ugandans are reporting on Twitter, Facebook and other online media about the 'campaign' Walk to Work. On Twitter it is tagged #walktowork, but do also note #walk2work #ugandawalks.

One of the first reports I came across today was Urban Legend Kampala who takes us through the whole day. Comments full of thick irony:

'According to political experts I have just spoken to (which means, any random person passing by because during times like these everyone becomes a political expert) we are probably going into a Tunisa situation. Nationwide riots and running street battles and daily teargas for at least the next three weeks, culminating in a new government. In short, kiss your asses goodbye.'

In fact, irony is prevalent in the social media commenting and observing I have come across. I'll finish with a recent comment on a Ugandan Facebook friend's Facebook:

'Are we allowed to walk-to-home?'

Respect to Uganda - hope this will work out peacefully.

Outside Classroom: Geography Lesson in northern Tanzania

Tanzanian Parliament, New Technology and Access #Bunge #Tanzania

The Tanzanian Parliament, Bunge, yesterday embarked on the third of its four annual sessions.

An activity which will feed the Tanzanian newspapers and the social media scene for the coming 10 days.

I just picked up some recent statements from the two youthful politicians, I've previously blogged about here:

Zitto Kabwe, MP for Kigoma North and CHADEMA, referring to the national anthem:

and January Makamba, MP for Bumbuli and CCM, who has a good reason for not being in Dodoma yet:

However, as a lovely contrast I have to lead your attention to The Citizen, which today has a brief article up on a new security measure in regard of physical access to Bunge. It is described as 'everyone who wants to enter a certain room has to use a special device in the form of a card'. The article goes on explaining the problems occurring due to this, and quotes the Speaker of Bunge, Ms Anne Makinda, who explained: 'The problems were anticipated as they were part of the new technology.'

Good news for Tanzania (and its democracy-loving donors)

Last year in February Uwazi made a report 'Do they work for us? 17 formal Tanzanian parliamentary sessions surveyed'.

Today Uwazi launched another report concluding that the more active an MP is, the greater chance of being reelected and returning to parliament. Find the report here.

The report says:

One measure voters may use when assessing an MP is how actively he or she participated in the business of Parliament. Does it matter to voters how many basic and supplementary questions an MP asked or how many contributions he or she made while in Parliament?

The brief also shows that elected ordinary MPs who returned were more active than those who did not return. It also shows that the political parties with more active MPs in Parliament gained seats in the elections of October 2010, while the party with less active MPs lost seats. In combination, these facts suggest that the performance of MPs in the Bunge does matter to voters.

So, the more active the MP is, the greater chance he/she stands to keep his/her seat in parliament, and therefore the report concludes that if your political party has the ambition to get more seats, the way forward is to perform, and make interventions.

Good news for Tanzania, and its democracy-loving donors, isn't it?! It all boils down to hard work, and getting off your feet.

Is it really this simple?!

Glimpses of Spring