After an early summer shake up in the Nigerien government, the parliament gave a vote of no confidence to Prime Minister Hama Amadou and his cabinet, effectively recalling their appointments. This government shut down came on the heels of news that $9m of European Aid for education programs was mishandled. The replacement selected is Seyni Oumarou who reinstated half of those ministers dismissed and began a junket around the different regions of the country.
One of his stops was in my village, Kehehe, to observe the ribbon cutting of a large scale aqueduct project to pump water from the lake and provide year round opportunities for gardening. All the elected counselors in the commune, the mayor and his assistants, many of the traditional village chiefs and village elders came to the outskirts of town to applaud the Prime Minister's arrival.
With an entourage of approximately 25 SUVs, the PM shook everyone's hands, let me snap some photos and gave a short speech followed by a tour. The event concluded rather quickly and then two months later it was announced that the government did not have enough money to proceed with the project. So in pure African fashion, the meters and meters of PVC were left in a pile, the cleared land went without millet for a season and the local officials held their breath that an NGO would come up with the necessary funds.
(photo index: Prime Minister Omarou; me with Mayor Maraba decked out in full Tuareg garb, sword and all!)
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