When a Governor plays politics with Global Warming

04 Oct When a Governor plays politics with Global Warming

Dr Idi Camp sat opposite Governor Gorem Huud, taking in the opulent surroundings. Camp noted the huge glass desk that separated him from the governor. Two large painted canvasses hung on opposite walls. They were the works of well-known artists, men who sold their paintings at places like Christie’s in London, expensive pieces, which more often than not one encountered in museums with the attendant brass plates announcing they were “on loan” from the collection of so-and-so.

Camp was served a tall glass of water in a fine cut crystal tumbler, poured from a matching pitcher. Everything in the place screamed of wealth and excess, certainly when compared to the dire poverty that existed just outside the walls of the compound.

As Camp sipped his water, he eyed Huud and knew what he was thinking. He knew the governor resented Camp’s morally superior attitude. Camp had to disarm him who glared at him from behind his desk.

“Thank you for seeing me, governor. I know you are a busy man.”

Huud merely nodded.

Camp gestured back toward one of the paintings. “A beautiful work, sir. Well suited to the office, I might say.”

He smiled at Huud who seemed to relax a little, his shoulders becoming less taut. Maybe Huud, who like most insecure men could be flattered, was accepting the compliment as genuine. Nothing, of course, could be farther from the truth. Camp was appalled at the excess when the money could be put to use so badly elsewhere. 0

“I’m glad you like it. My wife picked up both pieces when she was in London earlier this year.”

Camp forced himself to nod approvingly. “She has impeccable taste. A real eye. She missed her calling. She ought to have been an art dealer.”

Huud did indeed seem to lower his guard a bit. He smiled, leaned forward and picked up a pencil, tapping it on the table.

“Well, my friend, what can I do for you?”

“As you know,” Camp began, choosing his words carefully, as if tiptoeing through a field planted with booby traps, “I have been overseeing the digging of deep water wells up near Limi. So far, we have finished three.”

“Yes, indeed. I’ve been getting weekly updates. And I assume with those wells, you are tapping some of the water for irrigation.”

This caught Camp off guard, which he realized immediately was Huud’s intention. If Huud could make the case that the three wells were providing both drinking water and irrigation he could deflect discussion of the need for additional wells and from the subject of the money originally earmarked to build them. Camp needed to bring up the missing funds, but this would make it harder.

“I hadn’t thought of using the water for that, not yet anyway. We’re getting people what they need just to survive.”

Huud sat up, a look of surprise on his face. “Commissioner Camp, with your background I’m surprised at this tardy response. Given your days at the UN, I do not understand why you would not immediately begin to oversee an agricultural programme? Get subsistence farming on its feet? That was your reputation.”

“Yes, ordinarily I would…”

Huud held up his hand to stop Camp’s rejoinder. “That’s why I wanted you for this post, commissioner. Please don’t let me down.”

Camp was amazed at how Huud had turned the conversation on its head. He’d come in with an agenda. Camp had intended to relate how much good the three wells were doing and bemoan the lack of money to dig more. Now, he was defending his job.

“Governor, I promise you, I will issue directives this afternoon. I’ll send a team of agronomists to the area and start work immediately. You are one hundred per cent right.”

Huud smiled at the answer. Camp knew he wasn’t fooling the man. They both understood the game. And right now, Huud was ahead. “Excellent, commissioner. If anyone can pull the region’s people up by their bootstraps you can.”

Now it was Camp’s turn to make a move, attempt to regain enough footing to bring up the missing money. “I only delayed in starting such projects because I was distracted by other developments.”

There wasn’t much Huud could do but ask what they were, even though he knew perfectly well what Camp was getting at.

“Other developments?”

“I had hoped to begin drilling additional wells while I initiated agricultural measures. However, when I ordered the work, I discovered the allocated funds were missing. I have no idea where the money was spent, since nothing appears on the books.”

Huud eyed the man. Camp knew the money was probably sitting in some bank account in London or had bought a large house in Kensington. But he feigned puzzlement. “Can you help me clear this up, governor? For the sake of the people who need the water those wells can provide?”

Huud nodded. “Of course. I can only imagine the money was misplaced, probably into another ministry’s account. Education or health perhaps. I’ll look into it.”

Camp knew this was a stall, a bureaucratic stunt, which would keep him from getting anywhere. Huud could keep up the “investigation” pretty much forever. Camp had to find a way around this.

“I appreciate that. But given your duties, I wonder if you don’t want me to start an official audit?”

Camp saw something pass across Huud’s face. It might have been fear, but he could not be sure. The last thing Huud wanted, if he was indeed skimming money, was an army of accountants ploughing through the books.

“Let me try first. Audits are expensive, and we’re already heavily in debt. I’m sure you know, doctor, that when I got into office last year, I inherited a fiscal nightmare. I have a feeling the funds you’re missing were already gone when we arrived. That the culprits are members of the last administration.”

So there it was, Camp thought. He saw the endgame already. Any investigation would be “shocked, shocked” to discover unnamed former officials had lined their pockets. What was the current governor to do?

Huud suddenly stood up, announcing in effect, that the meeting was over. “If my suspicions are accurate, then we can’t really do anything, can we? Except plead for more aid from abroad. The main thing is to calm the people.”

This caught Camp off guard. All of a sudden Huud was moving past any promise to look into the missing money and going right to the kind of thing governments always do. Distract the populace from the reality.

“I don’t understand, governor.”

Huud smiled as if explaining a simple truth to a young child. “I mean we need to discuss how we can win the support of the people in spite of all these economic disadvantages and setbacks.”

“Support?”

“Indeed. If we don’t have their support we can’t remain in office, and if we can’t remain in office we can’t help them.”

Camp didn’t know what to say. He was being ushered out of the office having gotten nowhere. The governor was telling him not only was he not going to bother to investigate, but that he expected Camp to help him convince the people who had been robbed to trust the men who had done the deed. This was too much for Camp, who had tried to hold his fire but could not do it anymore. The weakness of honest men in the company of thieves.

“I’m sorry, governor,” Camp said. “Our people say humorously that a broken bridge on a road is not the business of a pilot because he flies in the air.” He was looking directly at Huud and got a nod to continue.

“The poor man will never worry about the soaring prices of DVDs, micro satellites, or flashy cars, but he is always worried when food prices rise.”

“Doctor! Doctor!” Huud banged on the table. “Is that not why we floated the Poverty Adjustment Programme? Are you telling me now that PAP has failed, eh?”

“Yes, sir,” Doctor Camp said. “Because of the inability of local suppliers to meet our overall demand, we had to start importing food.”

Huud watched Camp, furious. Camp had known this would make him angry. It always happened. Camp tried to be diplomatic, but there was only so much nonsense a man could take.

“That is what you are supposed to be remedying with your agricultural brilliance,” Huud said, sarcasm and frustration evident.

“It will take months to get the programme up and running, to divert water for irrigation, plant the crops, harvest them, distribute the food. Thousands will die by that time.”

“Now, Doctor,” Huud said slowly, “In circumstances such as these, we must lean on politics to help us.”

Camp protested with a heavy sigh.

Huud pushed on. “In the end, we can only be effective if we have political support. Let’s look at the situation. You are saying that we cannot increase the local production of food quickly enough?”

“I’m not even worried about food at this point. I’m talking about getting people water to drink. To keep them alive. Then we can worry about planting crops and food subsistence. But the millions I needed to dig those wells are gone.”

Camp was throwing caution to the wind and he knew it. Screw this act, he said to himself. Why play games? We both know the problem. Someone in the ruling party has stolen state funds.

To Camp’s surprise, Huud smiled. His tone became patronizing. “Now, Doctor, listen. The economic option, lack of funds, I have already said I would look into. But we both know the money probably will never be recovered. Let’s be realistic. Not our fault, but a fact.”

Camp just looked at him. He agreed with everything up to the last statement. But since he couldn’t prove Huud was behind the missing funds, he kept quiet.

“Now, let’s look at the political options, which have always proved useful in contemporary African politics.”

“And what would those be?” Camp asked.

“Give me some time to consult with my political advisers. I will put all my focus on this issue. I’ll cancel private meetings with other commissioners until this is resolved. Fair enough?”

Camp felt completely outmanoeuvred. He knew it was total nonsense. Huud had no intention of doing anything he said. Whatever “solutions” he proposed would be along the lines of distracting everyone from the core issue – that people were dying. But what else could he do? The man was offering to address the very issue Camp had raised. All he could do was thank Huud for his help.

“Thank you, governor.”

“And Doctor, you should get to work on those agricultural measures. People see planting happening they think food can’t be far behind. Right?”

Camp nodded, shook his boss’s hand and departed. He left feeling defeated. He did not expect Huud to even get back to him.

All he could do was hope that Abel would uncover enough evidence in London to expose the lot of them and see them kicked from office.