Smiles to serious

Today really highlighted the volatile nature of working somewhere like South Sudan, and took both our faces from the beaming you see in this picture to the serious strained look on Bennett's passport photos (needed to renew his driving licence).

Shortly after this we went to the Minister for Local Government, an important person in the state structure who we'd been trying to meet for a few days. He's been alright with me on previous visits but this time was aggressive and threatening for various reasons, none of which had any merit and can be attributed to a power trip and, because he had been busy, having his pride wounded about being out of the loop on our plans. He started pontificating about imprisoning Bennett and throwing me out of the country (empty threats) so rather than escalate by arguing back, as galling as it was, we had to sit and be yelled at, Bennett sadly belittled more than me because he was accused of not doing his job correctly, siding with the kharwaja ahead of the government that he represents.

Eventually I was allowed to add some remarks whereas Bennett had been stunned into a silence that he had to maintain thanks to the power hierarchy in South Sudan, which trumps fair discussion.

We are not helping the community to sell teak and yes we realise the resources and land belong to the government. No we are not trying to reintroduce a British colonial way of managing the forest. Yes we know that government sign off is required for everything and are not planning anything otherwise. Yes I will engage in much more time-consuming letter writing to avoid you becoming incandescent with rage again. Yes I know a reason for your anger is that you are likely personally benefiting from the sale of teak from within the Game Reserve. No I will not be giving you any money even though I know you would then scrutinise our work less.

Ok, I didn't say those final few comments and the Minister didn't have the ability to factor my responses into the views he'd already cemented in his mind. Even though I suspected the threats wouldn't come to much, my mind did start to race through which influential people I know in Yambio and Juba, in case I had to counter any deportation attempts.

I want to be understanding of the legacy that colonial rule has left in the mindset of African politicians, as hostility to foreign interference played out here. It must be easy to be paranoid when for decades foreigners treated Africans as inferior humans, under-investing in education whilst extracting resources. Although it doesn't help anyone much, I can cope with being threatened if it redresses some of the wrongs committed by the British regime.

Regardless of the struggles of post-colonial adjustment, situations are as they are now, and in Sudan's (and South Sudan's) case the British physically left in the 1950s. Various emotions play out during such aggressive diatribes: embarrassment that foreign NGOs still have a mandate; frustration at being trapped inside a corrupt system that is lucrative for a few, but clearly broken; paranoia that a foreigner wants to direct things like a member of the old colonial administration; angry hope that one day government offices will function and the country will be free of conflict.

In highly corrupt countries where openness, fairness and transparent systems are not how things work, power dynamics like this play out every minute of every hour of every day in the corridors and offices of all government departments, and spill out into everyday life for all citizens where government holds disproportionate power, such as in South Sudan. Maintaining one's system of patronage and support network occupies almost the entire time and is the main reason why productivity is so poor and finances not available, even when the capacity is there. Corrupt systems are atrociously inefficient as part of a functioning economy and labour force, and in many places it seems almost impossible that corruption could be reduced to a workable level. Cambodia was very far from achieving it. Countries such as the UK, which at some point reached a critical tipping point in everyone's attitudes to corruption, would have been this way (think shifty Dickensian police officers down alleyways lit by a gloomy lantern), but provide examples of how lower corruption has triumphed. I try to write this without irony in light of complaints I commonly make about the vested interests of the most wealthy in the UK and the power of corporate moguls. In general UK systems are fairer and more transparent although, if you've ever tried to organise a tax rebate or confirm that you don't own a TV, riddled with their own incompetencies.

On exiting this meeting feeling thoroughly deflated but not deported or imprisoned we made Mary the corn seller's day by buying two hot corn cobs for 50 South Sudanese pounds (approx. 30p) then passed numerous tin shacks that tend to have Yambio's toughest looking guys lounging in front, booming through the dusty air with such pop classics as Will Young's Evergreen. Our faces became a little less serious at that point, although we know we have to tread very carefully with certain individuals here.

Cue furious letter writing to ensure that next time we can't be accused of being British neo-colonials engaged in illegal selling of teak. A fairly bad misinterpretation of what we're actually here for, not that he was interested in hearing our protestations.