Make way!

President Guebuza is coming to town!  The big cheese of Mozambique is headed north and everyone is hard at work.  Potholes are being filled, buildings painted, and sidewalks paved.  We even recently found out that during his visit to the northern coastal town of Angoche, the President will be staying in the governor’s house.  Why is that cool?  Our very own Mafe and Anneke live in the apartment across the street and might catch a glimpse of the Mozambican President!  While fixing up towns just for the President obviously has its benefits, the impending visit is causing it's share of problems.

            Preparing the way are big boss military police, meaning more control points along the main highway.  Rafael, Will, Mireya, and I were on a bus headed to Nampula when we were stopped at one such control point.  I may have mentioned before that these stops have a certain routine.  The cops ask for the driver’s license and registration, then maybe asks for a few IDs (usually ours), and makes a stink about something stupid.  The unlucky perpetrator of that arbitrary offense may or may not try to reason with the cop, make puppy dog eyes, etc before reaching for their wallets to make the cop forget about their transgression. 

            Anyways, the cobrador (the ticket/fee collector) for our bus drew the short straw.  In charge of the ledger, he was held responsible for the fact that the bus was overcrowded and he and the driver were pulled aside to negotiate with the police.  About 45 minutes later, we watched the police put the cobrador in their truck and drive off.  None of us knew why, we just assumed that he was being taken back to the last town to talk to some chief about some paperwork or something.  Turns out, he had tried to bribe the cop, as per usual.  Unfortunately for him, a higher-up also happened to be there so the cobrador was arrested and taken away.  It might seem great that that behavior is recognized as wrong, BUT, as Will smartly pointed out, the wrong person is being punished.  People in Mozambique have come to accept that their police are corrupt and that it is going to take a few hundred extra meticais to appease the person in the uniform possibly holding an automatic weapon.  That cop, who probably would have accepted that bribe any other day, will continue making stops and demanding bribes as soon as the boss moves on to the next town but boy, did he put on a good show.