Godfrey Amon Mwampembwa (goes by the name Gado), a Kenyan-based cartoonist heading to the U.N.’s Cartooning for Peace exhibit in Wellington, New Zealand, was not able to attend the exhibit, that included his own work, after Kenyan workers declared an impromptu national holiday after Barack Obama was named the winner of the U.S. presidential election. Gado had left his passport at a government office in Nairobi so that his work permit could be renewed, but returned the day of his flight to find the office locked.
Cartooning for Peace organiser Olivier Pellenard, of Alliance Francaise in Wellington, said Gado “called in favours and pulled strings” in an attempt to retrieve his passport and make it to the airport. But the efforts were in vain and the trip to Wellington was abandoned.
“It is so ironic that the election of the first black American president means the only representative from southern Africa can’t come to the symposium.”
Cartooning for Peace began in 2006 as an attempt to bring leading cartoonist from around the world to talk about the use of cartoons to inform and shape public opinion on issues that threaten international peace. More information regarding Cartooning for Peace can be found on their web site and previous Daily Cartoonist coverage of the inaugural seminars that included Mike Luckovich and Ann Telnaes, visit here and here.