Campaign time

As I travel from province to province, everywhere I go, I seem to arrive at the same time as some big shot presidential candidate. In Kisangani, it was Kabila (the current president). The hotel I stayed at was filled to the brim with his supporters, clad in Kabila t-shirts and yellow caps, barking orders excitedly into their mobile phones right under my ground-floor window.














Breakfast at Riviera Hotel, Kisangani

At one point, we were following a big truck full of PPRD supporters (Kabila’s party) when I noticed another big truck full of MLC supporters (his main rival Jean-Pierre Bemba’s party) heading our way. Uh oh. But no, it was all good-natured jeering, and the ever-Congolese shaking-my-booty-whilst-brushing-my-hair dance on both sides. Quite uplifting really.

In Goma, where I arrived on Monday, it’s a head-to-head confrontation between Ruberwa (day before last), Bemba (yesterday) and Pay Pay (today). Supporters are furious because PPRD followers (Kabila’s party) deviously infiltrated the pro-Bemba crowd and started shouting “Kabila, Kabila!” half way through his address in the stadium. Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but notice how many soldiers Bemba appears to be travelling with – not, I believe, fully in line with electoral legislation. Then again, neither are the television channels, which unashamedly show pro-patron propaganda 24/7 despite clear rules about giving all candidates an equal chance. Here in Goma most public places appear to be tuned into the pro-Kabila channel Digital Congo, and I have now seen his election film run on a loop so many times that I can recite each slogan by heart.















Still, it’s all very exciting and inspiring…and knackering too! I don’t think I’ve every worked such long hours in my life before – 12-15 hour days every day, including week-ends. Ok, so probably my investment banker friends are sniggering that I should whinge at (or is it show off?) a 12-hour day, but I bet they don’t spend their days carrying big boxes and counting shoes and socks and hand-cuffs and distributing equipment to edgy policemen, and I bet they don’t get home all dusty and grotty and disgusting only to find that there is no water! And I definitely, definitely KNOW they don’t have to put up with the constant quarrelling of my darling colleagues Mr Sleepy and Mr Hyper (also known as Mr Know-It-All) who would make great characters in a play, but are just a tad too much to deal with in real life.

But it’s all so much FUN, I promise!