The waiting hours --- For example: I went to meeting with a governor where everyone, including us, was forced to wait for hours for the face time. It’s very common for the guests including journalists and internationals, to be asked to come back another time which also happened to us on that day. In another country, I attended a ceremony presided over by the president where everyone including ambassadors had to wait patiently in the stuffy conference hall in our best suits for no less than 3 hours until the president arrived.

In the first case, the governor was an intellectual, ex member of a NSAG who, I assumed, did not adhere strictly to protocol, and would prioritise meeting his own people over foreign guests in general. On the latter, I was told that was the norm in that country, in which the president waited for all tribal chiefs to arrive at the venue from faraway places before beginning a meeting/ceremony. Two hours was about the standard waiting time.

Source author: Ivy Susanti ivysusanti@gmail.com