Oblomov Reincarnated
This week’s Ramble begins with a literary reference. Now, I know you’re all well acquainted with 19th Century Russian literature, so I’ll be brief. Oblomov is the titular character of a novel by Ivan Gonchorov. Without giving too much away, he’s lazy, incompetent and knows it. And, of course, he’s a civil servant.
Last week I introduced our very own Malawian Oblomov, albeit in passing. He’s a colleague, working for another Ministry, and loyalty to the Government prevents me from talking too much about him. I had another meeting with him earlier this week, and once again he displayed a stunning lack of knowledge. It wouldn’t be so shocking if he at least pretended to give a s**t about it… but actually, he’s perfectly happy sitting in on meetings and deflecting any requests that he do any work.
Does every workplace have someone like this wasting space?
* * *
Speaking of wasting space, an update on my car. It’s still in Mozambique, and is now the centre of a minor diplomatic incident. Apparently, the Mozambican police don’t want to release it until the Malawian police give them back a piece of evidence they’re holding to use in a trial in Malawi. So my car is now a pawn in a strategic battle between police forces. The Commissioner for police in Lilongwe put a call in to Interpol to try sort it out.
And you know, it’s just a bloody Toyota Corolla!
* * *
A short survey.
Which cliché do you most ascribe to? ‘Walk before you can run’ or ‘Shoot for the moon; even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars’?
This is a very crude representation of two conflicting opinions over our recent and ongoing attempts to create a Joint Assistance Strategy that gives a sense of purpose to the hundreds of foreign-financed activities in Malawi. Both views have proponents within both the wider Government and the donor community, and to be honest, I can see both sides of the argument. In the past, its true to say that we’ve not had any semblance of donor coordination, so to try and rectify the situation at one go is very ambitious. And with Government still staffed by Oblomovs in many posts, do we have the people to do it?
On the other hand, we now have momentum, and the right people are in key posts, so if we wait a year or two, the circumstances may have changed, and may never be so favourable again. And, every month and year we wait is a year in which someone’s quality of life makes no discernable improvement, or even gets worse. Think of the children! Won’t somebody think of the children?!
All in all, I’d rather be a noble failure than unambitious. It’s the difference between Lomana Lua-Lua and Emile Heskey. Lets see whether Portsmouth or Birmingham stay up.
Last week I introduced our very own Malawian Oblomov, albeit in passing. He’s a colleague, working for another Ministry, and loyalty to the Government prevents me from talking too much about him. I had another meeting with him earlier this week, and once again he displayed a stunning lack of knowledge. It wouldn’t be so shocking if he at least pretended to give a s**t about it… but actually, he’s perfectly happy sitting in on meetings and deflecting any requests that he do any work.
Does every workplace have someone like this wasting space?
* * *
Speaking of wasting space, an update on my car. It’s still in Mozambique, and is now the centre of a minor diplomatic incident. Apparently, the Mozambican police don’t want to release it until the Malawian police give them back a piece of evidence they’re holding to use in a trial in Malawi. So my car is now a pawn in a strategic battle between police forces. The Commissioner for police in Lilongwe put a call in to Interpol to try sort it out.
And you know, it’s just a bloody Toyota Corolla!
* * *
A short survey.
Which cliché do you most ascribe to? ‘Walk before you can run’ or ‘Shoot for the moon; even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars’?
This is a very crude representation of two conflicting opinions over our recent and ongoing attempts to create a Joint Assistance Strategy that gives a sense of purpose to the hundreds of foreign-financed activities in Malawi. Both views have proponents within both the wider Government and the donor community, and to be honest, I can see both sides of the argument. In the past, its true to say that we’ve not had any semblance of donor coordination, so to try and rectify the situation at one go is very ambitious. And with Government still staffed by Oblomovs in many posts, do we have the people to do it?
On the other hand, we now have momentum, and the right people are in key posts, so if we wait a year or two, the circumstances may have changed, and may never be so favourable again. And, every month and year we wait is a year in which someone’s quality of life makes no discernable improvement, or even gets worse. Think of the children! Won’t somebody think of the children?!
All in all, I’d rather be a noble failure than unambitious. It’s the difference between Lomana Lua-Lua and Emile Heskey. Lets see whether Portsmouth or Birmingham stay up.
posted by the Maradona of Malawi at 8:31 PM
