Drew's African Odyssey - Mwange Refugee Camp, Zambia

Interesting how things get done around here. Going to Police for an accident report on our vehicle turned into somewhat of a fiasco. The inspecting officer, a certain Officer Willi, didn’t seem too interested in accepting our claim without some sort of incentive. We ended up driving him all over Kasama in return for him doing the police report (we had to have a police report in order to make an insurance claim and we had to do it fast as the vehicle had to be back in Lusaka within 3 days of the accident to make the claim). We then had to drive him out to the scene of the accident with our vehicle (apparently the police don’t have their own vehicles??). One of the most bizarre parts of this whole ordeal was having to sit in the police station, something that looked similar to an old western jail - a couple of desks with some cells in the back, no computers, no documentation of any kind, no perceived chain of command or any kind of organization and police officers walking around loading and unloading their AK-47’s… hmmm…

After sitting in the police station for 20 mins, listening intently while Peter gave his statement about the accident, it was finally my turn. I tried to match up my statement as closely to Peter's as I could, but somehow I screwed up on the side of the vehicle where the tire collided, and the officer became upset and made me go out to the vehicle and show him the damage. Later, he calmed down, but didn’t seem to want to believe me anymore, and we took a long time finishing up the statement… After that, we did some more favours for the guard by dropping him and his buddies off at the local bar. It’s obvious corruption is running a little rampant in this part of the world. This incident was just a glimpse…

Posted by: Drew Gardiner / 9:08 AM