Politiko

So I realize that it is not a good journalistic practice to preface something youºve written by saying itºs boring, but for those of you that arenºt interested in the governmental goings-on of a developing Third World African island nation...you may want to skip this one.

Politiko!!!

So to parallel the elections in the States, Cape Verde is currently in the campaign process. Across all of the inhabited islands, ambitious Cape Verdians are seeking election and re-election as kamera presidents…sort of the equivalent of a State governor. In recent weeks, hopefuls from the PAICV (Partido Africano da Independencia de Cabo Verde…who are currently in power in my conselho) and MpD (Movimento para Democracia) parties have, among other things, staged rallies complete with music and food and dancing and T-shirts and flags, given speeches, made radio addresses, and made personal visits to nearly all the remote villages, including Cha de Igreja.

To help you understand the significance of a kamera president, consider the following. Rural zones in Cape Verde receive public services in one of three ways.

1) The central government in Praia allots each conselho a budget, which the kamera president dispenses as he sees fit. He or she may use the money to build a school or a playground, aid in the construction of water conservation projects, build cyber cafes, assist small businesses, build roads, subsidize transportation costs for school kids etc. Or he may buy air conditioners for his office and leave the doors and windows open and use the money to pay for the electric bill. The kamera gets to decide which qualified individuals may attend teacher training, police officer training, nurse training, and who gets to join the Cape Verdian army (they actually WANT to join the army in this country.) The kamera president also fields requests for money from destitute families to aid in medical costs, burial costs, scholarship applications, grants for school, trash pickup, community improvements, problems with water or roads…pretty much anything a citizen needs, the kamera is the first and last point of contact. (Imagine if you had to go to your governor every time you needed some social service.) Cape Verdians not on the island of Praia have virtually zero contact with nationally elected officals, and no means to contact them if they wished to.
2) The central government in Praia allots money to be distributed to various local community organizations, such as the organization that I work for in Cha de Igreja, which is the most basic, grass-roots level form of government, although they are not officially affiliated with the national elected representatives. Think of them as The Lion’s Club or The Rotary club with funding from the national government. The local organizations use the money to build (in the case of Cha de Igreja) water conservation projects, improve the local primary school and assist destitute familes with medical costs.
3) NGO’s such as USAID and Millemium Challenge Account fund projects in rural areas.

Generally, the election process works in much the same way as in America. The CV government gives each party an equal election fund, which the candidates are allowed to supplement through personal income or private donations. (In some ways, however the process is a little different, as is evidenced by the MpD candidate who gave free prepaid cell phones to the first 400 people to show up at his rally last week…which seems like flat-out buying votes to me.) The most popular form of political advertising seems to be the ubiquitous “paint the slogan on a rock” method. [see picture below] This form of political graffit can be seen EVERYWHERE. You can barely walk ten feet in this country without seeing a wall or rock or door painted like this.

A current elected official was in Cha de Igreja a few weeks ago to speak to everyone and drum up support for his re-election. He was met with, to say the least, skepticism. (During his time in office, Cha de Igreja has received zero CVE in project money, although some private requests have been granted. He paid for a funeral last week for example.) He brought with him, something that I, along with the rest of Cha de Igreja, found extremely hilarious. Namely, a professionally rendered, elaborately presented “Plan for the Urbanization of Cha de Igreja,” with all the bells and whistles. He had a Power Point presentation projected onto the wall of the school which showed Cha de Igreja “as it will be” if he’s elected. It was pretty much like the Las Vegas of Cape Verde. There are hotels, café’s, condos, parks, a new school, recreation centers, a nature preserve, lighted sidewalks, four lane roads with dozens of cars parked in parking spaces (which don’t exist in Cape Verde), a historical district. Shit like that. This, for a population that is without electricity as often as it has it, for people who can’t even get to a doctor or a school when it rains because there isn’t a paved (or cobblestoned) road to get here. There was audible laughter as he went through the presentation, although he didn’t seem to be phased by it. (Although completely unrealistic for Cape Verde, I DO have to give him credit for the plan…it was exactly what we (Americans) would do with a place like Che de Igreja. I did in fact find a distinctly American name in the “created by” credits of the presentation.) Anyway, personal views aside, it’ll be a miracle if those currently in power can hold onto their seats in the kamera (despite the fact that one of those in power actually hails from Cha de Igreja.) When speaking with people about the current political climate, at least in my town, there is a universal distaste with elected officials on both the local and national level, which also seems to mirror the attitudes in the United States.

For Cha de Igrejan’s, the national government is a very abstract concept, as they (the Prime Minster and Parliament in Praia) have almost no impact in the daily lives of most Cape Verdians not on the island of Santiago. There is a feeling amongst Santo Antaon’s that the Cape Verdian government only serves those living on Santiago, leaving the fate of everyone else to the whims of a kamera president elected by less than 10% of the population. Indeed, the lion’s share of projects and development work take place on the island of Santiago where, not coincidentally, the majority of Cape Verdians live. (More people in the cities of Praia and Assomada than on all of the other islands combined, if my math is correct, which it very likely isn’t.) Although international studies tend to show that the level of corruption in Cape Verde is dramatically lower than other African nations, it does happen. Although I haven’t heard about the kamera spending $4300 a night on a hooker from Sao Vicente, there are stories. (A third of those chosen to go to Sao Vicente to be licensed as teachers are relatives of various kamera officials, if people from my town are to be believed.)

This general distrust and distaste for elected representatives and the democratic process has led to, what seems to me at least, an overwhelming sense of apathy. I ask everyone if they plan on voting on election day (May 18th I think) and everyone doesn’t say “No,” they says “What’s the point.” I try to encourage. I try to argue. “What if everyone said that? Nobody would vote and officials who represent the multitudes would get elected by a handful of people who paid for the campaign and who’ll likely profit from the results. The corrupt will be more corrupted, the rich will be richer, and nothing will ever change.” And that also seems to parallel politics in the States.

So anyway, there’s a little bit of Cape Verdian politico ranting for you. I’ll probably be ordered to remove this posting in a matter of minutes, so for those of you who took the time to read any of this, consider yourself lucky, thanks for your time, AND GO VOTE!!!!


PS

As a disclaimer, we as PC volunteers are not allowed to attend any political rallies, affiliate ourselves with any political party (to include wearing T-shirts or posting signs…or painting rocks as the case maybe), support any political candidate, or be political in any way. I did not actually attend the political rally in Cha de Igreja, but the entire town is situated on less than two acres, the school where the rally was held is visible from my rooftop, and the microphone he was talking into was hooked up to an entire truckload of speakers, so, I really couldn’t help but overhear.