This Week from Africa

The other day I had to deal with immigration in Banjul.

And once again I was reminded that bureaucracy in Africa can be a very special experience.

Some rules seem absolutely fixed. For example, wearing a reflective jacket in the port during the day is apparently mandatory. Without it, they are not supposed to let you enter the area at all.

And then you see random people walking around without one.

If you ask them about it, they tell you they forgot it and are just hoping not to get caught. Which would be funny, if it did not fit so perfectly into the rest of the process.

The Real Problem Beneath the Rules

Because the real challenge is usually not the rule itself.

It is the complete lack of clarity around it.

Different offices, banks, and accountants spread across the area, often on opposite sides, no signs, nobody clearly telling you where to go, and sometimes not even knowing themselves. Offices that have moved without any notice. People acting as if they have never seen the process before. Others doing the exact opposite of what they did last time, without giving any reason for it.

And when you ask, they often just tell you something that is not true.

Ask a second person and you may get the opposite answer. Or just a different lie.

One person insists a rule is written down somewhere and must be followed. Another signs the paper without enforcing it at all. Someone else refuses to stamp a document because they say the information is redundant and they will simply remember it when you come back.

They won’t.

After a while I stopped seeing this as a bureaucracy problem.

It felt more like a power problem.

Because where there is real authority, there is usually also clarity. Someone knows the process. Someone can explain the rule. Someone can tell you what matters, what does not, and why.

Where that is missing, people often compensate in other ways.

They hide behind procedure.
They become vague.
They change the rules.
They act important.
They make you dependent on interpretation instead of facts.

Clarity Is a Form of Dignity

And the more I sat with that, the less this felt like a story about immigration in West Africa.

I think a lot of people know this pattern from other parts of life too.

A boss who is clearly not the smartest person in the room, but makes sure nobody really knows how decisions are made. A family where the rules shift depending on mood. A school where obedience matters more than understanding. A company where unclear processes give insecure people a way to feel powerful.

Sometimes confusion is not an accident.

Sometimes confusion is the strategy.

Because if the rules stay unclear, the power stays with the person who gets to interpret them.

That is exhausting when you are inside it.

And it is one of the reasons I care so much about clarity.

Not as a productivity trick.
Not as some neat communication tool.
But as a form of dignity.

Because clarity gives people ground under their feet. It makes responsibility possible. It reduces manipulation. It gives people a fair chance to respond like adults instead of react like confused children.

Maybe that is also one of the quiet signs of real leadership.

Not how much power someone claims.
But how much clarity they create.

Because people who truly know what they are doing usually do not need confusion to feel important.

And maybe that is the real question underneath all of this:

Where in your life are unclear rules, mixed messages, or shifting expectations draining your energy?

And where might it be time either to stop playing that game, or stop leading that way yourself?