Slice of Life

Yesterday evening the president announced that people should not work today because the government needs to conduct a population census and they want people home where they can be counted. First of all this seems like the kind of announcement that could have been made at least a day or two ahead of time. Second, it's unclear (to me) exactly what an announcement like this means. I guess the president can cancel work for all public sector employees without too much difficulty, but could non-government workers be punished for working today? The question is entirely academic, because of course nobody would dream of disobeying this kind of instruction from the president. People just assume (and grant) that the president has the authority to tell them not to work.

Anyway I came to the research station with a few other people this morning but the place is empty so we'll be leaving by noon. I predict that by the end of today I won't be able to find a single Nigerien who was counted for this census.