It sounds apocryphal, but this is how it was told to me: IT services from the Kenyan business name registration department would go down, at about the same time, every weekday morning, without fail. Upon investigation, it was found that the database was being run from a single desktop computer, and every morning, it was unplugged so that a vacuum cleaner could be plugged in.

Most South Africans will sigh when asked about their experiences at, say, the Department of Home Affairs, but Kenyans by all accounts used to put up with far worse. The public service was riven with corrupt officials, who oft en demanded multiple bribes to hand over any kind of official document.