MozCam

Great article here about disastrous government IT project - has three good characteristics for a screw-up:

• UK Government - especially in Whitehall, no end of dreadful mega-projects
  
• Microsoft Windows - 'nuff said
  
• EDS - bidding for, winning, and trashing huge IT projects for decades now

Meanwhile, the ruling party here has used a more direct route to screw up the running of government services: last week ALL health service staff in Maputo (pop: 2mn) - from doctors to janitors - were obliged to attend a 'special meeting' with the outgoing president that lasted almost a whole day, and was supposed to encourage them to vote 'the right way' in next month's elections. Result: chaos in all hospitals and clinics, appointments trashed, surgical operations cancelled. Corruption is one thing, but this little abuse of state power shocked even mozambicans - how arrogant can you get?

I only hope that for every doctor or nurse who obligingly 'votes correctly' on 1st and 2nd December, several of their disgruntled would-be patients think a bit more clearly about the future of the country.