Alterations

Some trepidation this morning due to the prevailing political situation in Mozambique. Since the October elections there have been repeat protests met with police violence because the voting results indicated clear fraud, the most egregious since the country’s first democratic election in the early 1990s.

People are not backing down from demonstrating their anger, which is impressive in the face of harsh state intimidation. Street protests and blocked roads are the main reason I didn’t visit Maputo during this trip, but I didn’t properly consider the movements in the north.

Lichinga was quieter than I expected, which meant I could meet up with my colleague Mbumba, and he could give me a lift to Lichinga’s small airport. I needed to take a domestic flight to Nampula from where I would be able to get back to Tanzania via Nairobi.

I’ve never left Nampula on an international flight, so that was an exciting prospect. However, my first flight kept being altered. Three changes later and it was eating dangerously into the window I needed to make the international transfer. I just made it after some baggage drama (it didn’t come off the plane, they had to go rooting) and an intimidating session in a small dingy room during which a group of police grilled me about how much cash I was carrying out of the country so that they could confiscate some (no, I am not some under-the-counter businessman. Look to your own overlords for the shady dealings).

I had several hours in Nairobi as the flight out of there was delayed. On board they were proud to announce the ‘new cabin environment’. I believe this was a safety video that they played instead of having the cabin crew do so much demonstrating. I do wish companies would stop pretending that things like this matter one iota to consumers. What we prefer is to not see corporate profiteering, with prices increasing out of proportion to services received.