In a place where the law doesn’t work, it’s always those who are powerless who are affected.

***

I remember my last night in Dar es Salaam. I was out at a pub with a few friends, enjoying my last Tanzanian beer. Somehow, in my semi-tipsy state, I got into an argument with a Tanzanian guy whose family runs big business up in the north. He was a typical libertarian – everyone for themselves. Only difference was that he didn’t even believe the state can provide security from violence and enforcement of personal property; that’s where the money under the table to the powerful come in. Who cares about the weak guys? They’re only useful to step on top of to get even higher up the social ladder.

Predictably, I was trying to convince him that if people didn’t support a society driven by the fairness of the law, in the end, it would be yourself losing out. You may think the small guys are irrelevant, but if the law doesn’t apply equally to everyone, one day, you or your loved ones will fall out of favour of the powerful and end up as one of the weak. Or else you’ll live in constant fear of violence from the weak. This point was especially relevant personally as I had just come back from a visit to South Africa. Violence perpetuated by inequality. If you had to live in constant fear, why not just support a fair and just law. Why is it so hard? Why are people driven to strive for inequality?

***

Tonight, one of my staff told me that one of the districts we work in is corrupted from the inside out. Farmers were stolen from, beaten up, and silenced. They are continually squeezed because the leaders are earning a very handsome profit. Involved in all this, implicitly or explicitly, is probably one of my most important field staff. We cannot prove he’s guilty, neither can we prove he’s innocent. Suspicions either way. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of this, the headache is still the same.

The small farmers are scared now, because they have finally understood the extent of their loans. Pressured from all sides, they may now finally stand up and become witnesses. In the end though, the repercussions in this small community ruled by the iron-fist of an evil old woman may be too much for the small farmers to risk. In the end, even if some small farmers are willing to stand up against those powerful, the law will still probably not be on their side.

***

How do you work in a place where the law doesn’t apply, criminals walk free, innocent people are frightened into silence, the poorest squeezed to stuff the pockets of the rich, and your staff probably was involved in the largest fertilizer theft case in the history of the region? You don’t. You just almost want to give up. But I think we have no choice but to go on.