Warwickshire man tells of his encounters with African powers

Having spent a large part of his childhood and later a lot of his adulthood - through his work as a rural development officer - on the continent, Ian is keen to share his experiences of some rather intimate encounters with some very powerful men.

Unforeseen circumstances somehow contrived for him to have dinner with four heads of state and these events, together with other unusual experiences that could only happen in Africa are related in Supper With the President, an anthology of ten tales.

Speaking to the Courier before launching the book tonight (Friday), Ian said: “I thought it would be interesting to share these things because they are lost times. The world is changing so fast and most these people are now gone.

“All these people were tremendously different from each other.

“Some of the meetings I had were a little bit amazing, some of them were strange and bizarre.”

Taking readers on a journey spanning 1,000 miles, the book includes a jailbreak Ian found himself involved in across west Africa, a trip with a camel train across impossible sand dunes and salt marshes and many other bizarre episodes, as well as Ian’s memories of dining with those at the top.

He said: “It’s funny that in the UK, if you want to meet your local councillor, it is not so easy. But I got to see 17 presidents, two emporers and goodness knows how many kings in Africa.

“You just turn up at their office and stand in a queue to see them.”

Ian also offers an alternative view to African politics to those most commonly held in the UK. He said: “I grew up in Africa, so what people in the West see as ‘corruption’ amongst its leaders, I see from a different perspective.

“When you have a deal, everybody involved in the deal needs to profit from it and everybody needs to win. It keeps the balance in society and keeps the economy flowing.

“The easiest way of persuading someone that they have done well out of a deal is to give them money. If you don’t pay them, they will take something anyway.

“In the case of some leaders, yes, they do steal far more than they share and Mugabe is a classic example. That is corruption.

“There are equally others who may have got rich out of something, but so did their people.”

Supper With the President, published by Mosaique Press, is now available to buy, priced £12.99.

Ian, who spoke about his time in the Congo jungle on BBC Radio 4’s Excess Baggage on Saturday (October 22), is launching it at Kineton village hall tonight from 7pm.