DEPRIVATION - A Nigerian Special Dish? (Part 2)
Who Dropped the Ball?
It is commonplace to speak of leadership failure in Nigeria. In my opinion, the reality borders more on leadership collapse. Failure connotes the idea that leadership structures exist but are incompetent or are incapable of delivering stated objectives. Unfortunately, we have regressed from this position and sunk into the grimes of rottenness, pollution and despair. The structures have collapsed. It’s everyman for himself. Those in positions of leadership do not even bother to put up an appearance of trying to deliver any objective, other than making sure they amass enough largess for their unborn fourth and fifth generations. Hitherto unheard of vices and unimaginable depravity have come home to roost. The pyramid has been turned on its head whereby the ruthless ruthlessly lead the meek, with impunity. And the ever increasing risks of relative deprivation offers its poisoned chalice.
While it is agreed that there will always be absolute deprivation, I believe it is possible to regulate the degree of relative deprivation and maintain an equilibrium. A responsible leadership would fashion a means to ensure that those at the very bottom of the rungs of society still derive some sense of humanity from their existence. I forgot, Humanity is dead and gone to its grave. Hm, ha, gone to its grave.
Allow me to introduce specifics in a bid to gauge the genesis of the angst of the common man at the levels of relative deprivation in Nigeria and his frustration at the seeming aloofness from the very leaders elected to address such anomalies. I will rely on and share extracts from the 2010 budget, being that it was the budget I could readily lay my hands on that had been clinically analyzed to determine just how sincere our leaders are in their act of governing for effectiveness. I’m highly indebted to Hussaini Abdu in this regard, for his masterful analysis of the Federal Government Budget of 2010 and his corresponding conclusion on it.
The budget of any nation, especially a developing nation, is the next important instrument of governance after the Constitution. It reflects government's priorities in the various sectors while also showcasing government's values and reward systems. It is the budget that government utilizes in encouraging or discouraging growth as well as in improving the welfare of its citizenry. In Nigeria, due to the nation's long history of military rule, the budgetary process has been far from being open at all levels of governance. In addition, majority of those doing budget work have been technocrats, who have used technical language to alienate the citizenry from participating in the budget process. Also, governments at all levels of governance have not made deliberate efforts to enlighten, educate and encourage the populace to participate actively in the budget process.
Consequently, the people have become alienated from this very important initiative of government, which guides and has enormous influence on their daily lives. The average Nigerian does not see him or herself in the budget and does not feel constrained to be part of the budgeting process. As a result, the baton has fallen on those in authority to try and imagine what the people's needs could be and to also try and allocate funds to meet those needs. Therefore, our needs assessment system and the resultant public expenditure framework have been modeled using the top to bottom rather than bottom to top approach, in assessing community needs and apportioning funds to meet those needs. Therefore, over the years, as governments and administrations witnessed a change of guards and trillions of naira were budgeted at all levels of governance, the sheer quantum of these funds have not translated into improving the lives of majority of Nigerians.
While the general statement of intention of the 2010 budget is aimed at addressing the past problems of budgeting in Nigeria, a careful scrutiny reveals that much of the problems of the past still remain with this new budget.
Relative Deprivation in Education. It is given wisdom that no measure of efforts at development and transformation of lives of the ordinary people could be effective without factoring in the issue of education. Apart from other targeted poverty alleviation programs such as food, housing and other subsidies, it is recognized that access to and provision of basic levels of education (primary, secondary and tertiary) is central to increasing the welfare of the poor. This right needs to be more forcefully enforced and encouraged through adequate funding in annual budgets.
Nigeria is ranked 158---- out of 178 --- countries in the 2008 Global Monitoring Report. Even the Nigeria government statistics put children who are out of basic education at about 12Million.
Girl-Child education is still a challenge in Nigeria, as about 60% of those who are out of basic education, are girls. We have more states showing negative gender parity (less girls enrolling, retained and completing). In spite of this huge deficit, our education budgets have over the years perfected their gender blindness and this factor continues to militate against the education of the girl child.
Nationwide, there is certainly huge under spending in the education sector, especially as regards increasing capital budgets so as to reclaim and refurbish dilapidated schools. This shortfall is evident in the fact that the Federal Government's component of the UBE fund is still under drawn because states are not meeting the requirements for which monies are being released to them. At the tertiary level, lecturers frequently go on strike to demand for the prioritization of that sub sector by government.
Relative Deprivation in Public Services - Water. The 2009 Budget gave priority to the completion of all ongoing projects in the water sector, which will quickly deliver tangible results in service delivery. Accordingly, rather than embarking on new projects, massive proportion of the resources were devoted to completing existing water supply projects and discharging outstanding obligations from the 2007 and 2008 fiscal years. However, against the backdrop of the current overall 29% implementation rate as at the end of third quarter of the 2009 budget, much is left to be desired regarding actual benefits to ordinary Nigerians.
In many cities, access to potable water remains elusive. This sometimes results in outbreak of water borne diseases such as cholera and guinea worm. The 2009 Nigeria Human Development Report puts the percentage of Nigerians with access to improved source of drinking water at 49.1%. This means that over 70M Nigerians do not have access to improved drinking water. This should not be the case, with the level of abundant water supply available in most parts of this country.
The 2010 proposed budget has set aside 3.6% of the total budget for agriculture and water supply. Cholera and other water borne diseases are now becoming a regular occurrence and hunger is on the increase.
Relative Deprivation in Affordable Healthcare. At about four per cent, the Health Sector allocation for the year 2010 is definitely grossly inadequate and unable to meet the numerous challenges of the sector, especially in rural communities.
About four million of the Nigerian population is living with HIV; these people depend on sporadic Foreign Donors efforts for Anti-Retroviral Drugs (ARVs), care and support. Millions of pregnant women still have to pay to have babies delivered and in the process 800 out every 100,000 die as a result of inability to afford necessary healthcare cost to prevent or avert such deaths; under five children still die from preventable diseases. And almost all community health infrastructure have either collapsed or converted to other use. The total health allocation is still less than 15% Abuja Declaration and HIV is still given less than 5%. Interestingly, the National Hajj Commission has an allocation of N1,067,470,875 , the state house is using about 500 million Naira to purchase Treated Vehicles, while scandalously the National HIV response as anchored by National Agency on HIV and AIDS has a mere N701,938,135. Laughable, isn’t it?
Relative Deprivation in Wealth Creating and Populist Opportunities. The Poverty Alleviation Program is one of the major efforts by government aimed at checking poverty in Nigeria. Over the years, this program has embarked on various initiatives that are expected to affect the lives of a few poor persons. However, the actual percentage of Nigerians who have been pulled out of poverty has been doubtful as has been the sustainability of the project. Critics say the project has been highly politicized. It is therefore important to re-allocate funds and make judicious use of the funds to effect changes.
One would expect that this unit would coordinate the poverty eradication efforts of the Federal Government but this has not been clearly demonstrated. In the 2010 budget, the Federal Government is proposing to commit N3.9B to this program. Given the number fact that 75million Nigerians are said to go to bed hungry, this amount is unlikely to make much impact. Even with the N3.9B that goes to the program, only N1.65B is actually going to real projects that will affect the lives of the poor (42% of the budgeted sum). The rest of the 58% (N2.25B) goes into administration of the fund and other recurrent expenditure. Another laughable happenstance?
The budget did not allocate much for a social safety net, which has been promoted as one of the viable measure against poverty in the country. If we continue on this path, the poor can only be expected to increase in their numbers and the dream of Vision 202020 can only be said to be a mirage.
When we compare the budget of the Agriculture/Water sector to that of Defence, it becomes clear that the defense sector had been prioritized over and above the agriculture and water sector. While the defense sector got 5.7% of the budget, agriculture and water now combined got only 3.6%, while health got 4% of the budget.
The ratio of Defense to health to agriculture and water budget stand at 1.6:1.4:1. This means that for every N1.00 going to the agriculture and water sector, N1.60k would have to go to the defense sector. While for every N1.40k going to the agriculture and health sector, N1.60k would have to go to the defense sector.
Table showing the Trend analysis of selected sector budgets (2007 – 2010)
Further analysis of 2010 Appropriation bill indicates that money which should have been allocated to pressing needs for the less privileged members of our society is spent on high profile projects and programs, which benefit just a few.
An instance of this is the provision, under the Presidency budget, for a line item known as 'miscellaneous', amounting to N1.5 bn. Items under that heading still include 'other miscellaneous expenses' put at N353m, which is more than 20% of the budget line. Use of miscellaneous in budgeting is out dated and completely out of turn with modern conception of budget as an accountability document. Hello? Is anyone listening?
Other breakdowns include: · Donation & gifts (N160M). When and to whom does the Presidency have to donate and for what purpose? Is the amount different from that of 'welfare packages' within the Presidency for which an additional N183M is proposed?
Sporting activities (N54M). What might this refer to since it says activities, not facilities? What about resources allocated to Ministry of Sports?
Rehabilitation and furnishing of 10 houses along Ibrahim Taiwo Street for use of principal officers to Mr. President (N200M). This comes to a unit cost of N20M to rehabilitate and furnish one of such houses. It is also more than the total capital project cost for the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), which is N152M.
Replacement of seating sofas, rugs and curtains for the main house (N98M) and provision of UPS at VP's residence, New Admin block (N100M). It would be important to find out just how many units of this would be purchased as this amount comes to the same amount required to purchase two mobile intensive care units and two rapid intervention vehicles/ERT personnel and equipment vehicle for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
Even the Parliament...
Senate to spend N270M on retreat. This brings to an average of N2.5M per senator for the retreat and it further brings it to N500,000 per day for each of the senators (for a five-day retreat).
Senate to spend N15B on sitting allowances and honorarium in the 2010 budget.
Senate to spend N1.2B on computer materials and supplies.
You find similar examples in the House of Representatives.
The Federal and State governments have promised to increase power supply to 6,000 megawatts by the end of 2009 – this we have come to find out is the original installed capacity of Nigerian electricity. Even at that, some months ago when this promise was made, it seemed as if the end of year 2009 would never come but here we are, at the end of 2009. As at date (December, 2009), record has it that we are currently at only 4,000 Mega Watts. There is still a gap of 2000. We are not talking about distribution, which is even more chaotic than generation.
Little wonder then that all MDAs are still committing huge sums of money for alternative power supply for 2010. Even the State House, which is expected to be on a high priority power line still plans to spend N52M for fueling generators for the year.
The National Assembly has budgeted to spend N450M on generators and fuel for 2010; the Ministry of Education, about N1b. This means that the nation should be prepared for another year of epileptic power supply.
A computation of all these amounts would show a mind-boggling sum, which should have been utilized on poverty eradication instead of on purchase of UPS, generators and fueling. It is estimated that over 70% of Nigerians don't get up to 2 hours power supply in a day and almost every business set up in the country depends on generator. We can't increase productivity, attract foreign investors or fight poverty under prevailing situations.
ActionAid Nigeria after reviewing the 2010 Budget as proposed by the Federal Executive concluded that:
The Nigeria Federal Government is still far from getting right its priorities in making life more bearable for the masses in Nigeria, majority of who still live in abject poverty.
That it is obvious that the government has remained insensitive to the aspirations of the people in its allocation of resources to matters that could be declared as wasteful in the face of the infrastructural deficiencies in the nation.
That the luxury that both the Executive and the National Assembly have been giving themselves has continued to show a leadership that hold the electorate in contempt as these (the electorate and tax payers) have continued to be denied that which is taken for granted in civilized societies.
That there is need for the Federal Government to review its proposed spending, especially in areas where it has made embarrassing cuts in spending on what the common man would benefit from; especially in nation growing sectors such as health, education, agric. etc.
Between the stated and the real: This is a budget that lies against itself. It is important at this stage to alert all that what is stated in the letters of 2010 Appropriation bill might in reality be far from the reality it represents. Some of the improvements and increased spending it presented as promising in critical sector could in reality be mirages.
Close scrutiny of the increase in the 2010 budget over that of 2009 shows that the increase promised is merely in the nominal (ordinary) value. Where real value is introduced, after deflating the nominal value with the annual inflation rate of 10%, there will be a decrease in the amount allocated to all of the selected sectors. The 2010 federal budget, which increased nominally by 31.5%, will now show a real increase of 17%. This means in essence that the 2009 budget was increased in the 2010 budget by 17% and not 31% as stated by government. This implies that there is not as much money as we think that will be available to deal with issues as stated.
That the National Assembly does not pass the Appropriation Bill in its present form as it neither reflects nor address the aspirations of the people of Nigeria.
Gbam! Gbam!! Gbam!!! And GBAM!!!! Emphasis mine.
My Observations and Determinations
Looking again at the four preconditions of relative deprivation (of object X by person A) where X is a particular need deemed valuable in society which the common man may aspire for, and the discontent he may feel when he compares his position to others and realizes that he has less of what he believes himself to be entitled than those around him:
- Person A does not have X
- Person A knows of other persons that have X
- Person A wants to have X
- Person A believes obtaining X is realistic
Education - Person A does not have access to it, or deems his children as not having access to it, where ‘it’ is similar in quality to those enjoyed by others in society to whom he considers to be peers. Shouldn’t there be a policy that ensures that there is a quotient, and this quotient signifies the variance between what is offered the wealthy versus what is offered the poor? Furthermore, that the quotient remains within a specified range, with efforts aimed towards further reducing the range till parity is achieved?
Fees charged by Crèche and Primary School operators average over a million Naira per school year, per child. These fees soar even higher where secondary education is concerned. While the middle class struggles to offer their wards the best education their wages can afford, the lower class folk rely on services offered by public agencies, religious organizations or make do with none at all. For someone like me, the temporal slant is frightening – I can’t boldly state that I can afford to give my children the same quality of education my parents gave me!
For the majority of those in positions of leadership the preference is to send their wards abroad to obtain education – in climes where knowledge is gained for a pricey sum. This makes it easier to appreciate why our leadership has such a lukewarm attitude towards fine tuning this sector and returning it to the lofty heights it once operated at. The state of relative deprivation that exists in this sector reveals huge challenges that require urgent attention.
Water - Top of the news at this time is the horror unleashed on poor students of Queens College in Lagos. The students had for long complained about the unsanitary state of pipe borne and stored water provided for their use, but the inhumanity in the leadership of the school arose, took a cue from the positions usually adopted by our community and national leaders, and went back to sleep. Their slumber was so deep that not even the retching sounds of a thousand girls could stir them from their latent position. A couple of girls have been reported to have died while over a thousand presented at the school’s clinic for water-borne related illnesses. In a better evolved clime, there would be public outrage and the demand for a comprehensive inquiry into the running of affairs at the school.
In Nigeria, Humanity is dead and gone to its grave - hm, ha, gone to its grave.
It is no longer a status symbol to sink a borehole in one’s property, it is now a necessity. The lower class folks resort to the sinking of wells. What I find dumbfounding though, especially among the supposed enlightened middle class, is our inability to come together to take a unified approach to solving challenges. Too many residential areas exist where almost every single home has sunk a borehole, gaining access to the same subterranean bodies of water. What could have been wrong with a unified approach where a single borehole would feed overhead storage tanks and be piped to all the houses within a specific area that contributed to its construction? With allowances made for homes that hope to be able to raise the funds and benefit in the future? Wouldn’t such an approach have been cost saving? It demonstrates our inability to think and act in terms of group welfare, communal welfare, of planning ahead; opting instead for an insulated, isolated me, myself and I approach. Does it reflect the expanding influences of, and our newly found preference for instant gratification?
Healthcare - For the first time in our history, the most highly placed public official was out of office for 49 days at a stretch to obtain medical services in a better clime. Nothing wrong with that, after all we all are human, prone to the weaknesses that afflict humans and we have the option to seek expert services oversees if we can afford it. This begs several questions that Nigerians are already too eager to ask, but the question on my mind is this – what happens to those who can’t afford the price of an overseas ticket, not to mention the cost of treatment overseas? I have heard of a woman that died because the hospital didn’t have the money to service an equipment that would have saved her life. The repair cost? About $1285 at the time. I have witnessed an accident victim who was left to die because the hospital didn’t have an MRI machine to assess his degree of brain injury. My own father was on oxygen at a teaching hospital that ran out of oxygen shortly past midnight but had to wait for dawn before they could order a replacement. My father’s sun set before the next day’s sun rose. What happened to our Community Clinics? Our General Hospitals? Our Teaching Hospitals?
Oh, I forget - Humanity is dead and gone to its grave. Hm, ha, gone to its grave.
Relative Deprivation in Wealth Creating and Populist Opportunities – There is a clear and present danger for the leadership in not placing front and center how to enable the common man to eke a living out of his cottage industry and/or brick and mortar shop. Coincidentally, page 22 of The Punch Newspapers of Tuesday, March 21, 2017 captures an ongoing 5-day retreat for the National Assembly top management personnel in Kogi State where the Senate President is quoted to have called on the management staff to embrace change and reposition the legislature for transparent and efficient service delivery.
Power - The Premium Times reported on January 22, 2017 that power generation dropped from 4959MW on January 4, 2017 to 2662MW recorded for that day. I will avoid delving into allegations of how this is another stark example of how we create havoc for, and bring hardship upon ourselves. All the talk about cabals holding down the development of this sector to benefit their narrow interests by enabling them to continue to grow their bank accounts via the importation and maintenance of generators.
There are obvious fundamental flaws that hinder the development of sound minds and prevent the emergence of any nationalistic mindset. Any surprise then that were you to run your own establishment, and offer the average citizen a job to assist you to further promote the business, he would first and foremost, once familiarized with the processes and controls, manipulate the system such that his self-serving measures come front and center?
Upon being satiated with his underhand measures he may, if a person with conscience, begin to think of how to save the establishment so as not to render himself without a source of income. Once he has found a balance, he would help those within the organization whom he chooses to help by steering crumbs their way, creating a niche of cronies for himself.
Were this person to be without a conscience, he would plough the entire resources of the establishment to his own use, bring ruination upon it and head off to seek another pasture where he would repeat his modus operandi. It is depressing, but true. These illustrate the ignoble approach of the average citizen to work.
Has it come to your notice, say upon entering a business environment for the first time, the most pleasant, responsive and willing to assist person is an intern? Followed by the most recently hired staff? While the tenured ones offer you a surly look flavored with their biggest attitude?
Well, an environment can only beget more of what it places value upon. An elephant has not been known to beget a giraffe. Neither has a snake been known to beget a duck.
My Yoruba people have a saying which when translated goes something like this, “You this demon, if you are incapable of, unable or unwilling to improve my circumstances, let me be as I am”. For me, it is the temporal slant of relative deprivation that packs the bitter-most pill. Not merely for my personal comfort. I find it sad and incomprehensible when I talk to the youth of today and he doesn’t believe that a time was in the past when structure, order, reasonableness and humanity had a firm grip on the land.
The fact that leadership has been insensitive to this gradual retrogression worries me unduly.
Infrastructural Deprivation – The common man is not only being deprived of basic necessities, even the ones he was previously benefiting from are constantly being eroded.
- Ease of owning his own home. For example, I would expect a more responsive leadership to support a mortgage banking system that would provide practical and meaningful funding, targeting freshly minted graduates such that by the time they hit their mid-forties they would own their own homes. A great number of citizens would benefit. Two decades of such a measure being incorporated would find the social dividends unquantifiable
- Ease of transporting himself around the country, if he so wished. Let me not dwell on acquiring his own vehicle (it is common knowledge that people in London and New York, for example don’t necessarily need to own a car as the public services are very capable and effective in meeting their needs). Our leadership has operated at a mediocre level for decades when it comes to public service. It has been established though, that they do pack a punch when it comes to seeing to it that they acquire brand new vehicles as official tools in exchange for offering pitiable levels of service
Social Deprivation – Times are hard, no doubt. Very few families can afford to take expensive vacations even within the country. A more responsive leadership than we have been opportune to have would have recognized the need for amenities to be put in place, maintained and secured. Such that it would cost nothing for families to engage in family-friendly events at neighboring public parks and gardens. These measures would, to some degree, act as release valves and diffuse the pressure built up in many homes. Several children in America found sweet release from unpleasant situations in their homes by hitting the neighboring basketball court for pickup games. Today, almost every community has one.
Cultural Deprivation – It can’t bode good news for a society where a reckless leadership rides roughshod over minority groups to the extent that those ones begin to feel disenfranchised. A multi ethnic society like ours should take pride in promoting the different cultural aspects and fashioning a way to weave them all together into a beautiful fabric of many splendid colors.
Moral Deprivation – This is where the problem assumes a whole new dimension. When a man can’t dream of owning his own home, can’t be confident of having a better tomorrow regardless of how much effort he puts into it, can’t experience his family’s gratification for creating memorable leisurely moments, and finds his culture gradually eroded under the guidance of poor, uninspiring and directionless leadership, he more or less shouldn’t be blamed for starting to feel quite perturbed, alienated and deviant. Moral Instructions used to be a basic yet crucial subject at school, back in the day. An isolated man who chances not to be anchored on a solid moral ground would find it easy to succumb to temptation when it comes to pursuing narrow self-centered interests which require him to engage in fraudulent, illegal, immoral and illicit things. The demonstration by the leadership for the past 3 or 4 decades have robbed the common man of any moral fiber to resist temptation. Over this period children have been born and become adults. Their value systems exposed to and being influenced by existing attitudes. Attitudes that lean more towards the tolerance and outright acceptance of deviant behavior. Unfortunately, our leadership is pooled from the citizenry. Rather than to prevent, curtail or reduce social imperfections the mindset that has been cultivated seeks to proliferate and advance them to the next level. For that is all it knows. That is all it was exposed to. A perfection of the art ‘garbage in, garbage out’.
Financial Deprivation – The new dimension once established, unfolds unbridled insatiability. An immoral society leaves the populace with little choice than to be subject to immoral people in positions of power and influence. Even in the private sector it is easier to find a needle in a haystack, or for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than it is to find a noble man of stature to employ. Too many people have been conditioned to pursue filthy lucre. Such people would leverage on and take advantage of their new found positions to reveal their abject lack of ethics. They would pilfer with impunity and justify amassing stupendous amounts of wealth. And the common man, rather than to cry foul, will line the street to venerate the villain, hoping for a handful of crisp notes thrown his way. Praying silently in his mind for his own opportunity. When he too would assume a position of power and influence. And be even more deviant.
Political Deprivation - The new dimension once established, unfolds unbridled misfeasance. It isn’t a contrived story that the majority of our representatives and governors bought their seats. The latest trend is to brag about addressing the ‘stomach infrastructure’ of the masses, who at their own end, remain docile enough to accept a one-time meal in exchange for their birthright. The voice of the masses has rarely placed public officers in office. A small cabal representing an immoral leadership is tasked with that duty. They, and only they, elect people into public office. They, and only they, determine whose vote has a voice. They, and only they, dictate which segment of the society has a right to participate, and to what level their presence is felt. The end result is the exposure of the citizenry to wrongful and injurious blunders of lawful authority. With little or no form of remedy. What else could be expected from an immoral populace?
Legal Deprivation – The new dimension once established, unfolds unbridled malfeasance. Our justice system recently got stung by a rabid wasp that must have suffered the fate of having fed on fermented nectar. It was unheard of. Highly placed and hitherto very well respected legal luminaries, serving public officials being accused of acts that are legally unjustified and contrary to law? Incredible! Where did the wasp zoom in from? Utopia? This is Nigeria. This is where the petty thief caught stealing a phone at the bus stop is sentenced to 15 years with hard labor. This is where the Director General of a parastatal caught embezzling N1bn ($2.8M) is sentenced to 6 months at a posh clinic for reasons of poor health. This is where you prolong the length of a case that isn’t playing out in your favor in court by requesting for nonsensical extensions and applying for meaningless interlocutory injunctions that would be granted once you have done the needful within the inner chamber. What else could be expected from an immoral populace?
Spiritual Deprivation - The new dimension once established, unfolds unbridled nonfeasance. This is perhaps the ultimate miscalculation. The failure to act. An immoral people, lost along their way, wallowing in their own self-induced predicament to the point where they now become incapable of recognizing their own undoing. Of what benefit is it to gain the whole world at the expense of one’s soul? Everyone understands there to be a final disembarking point on the train of life. Most profess that this transient phase requires a deep spiritual bedrock to enable one withstand the stormy weathers which abound. Yet, we bask in the presence of, and submit to the knowledge of charlatans who have disguised themselves as ecclesiastic authorities. We covet iniquitous doctrine impetuously, consume discordant homily with avarice and digest incongruous ordinances with relish. What else should be expected from an immoral populace?
Humanity is dead and gone to its grave, H’m ha! gone to its grave.
They sunk an oil well adjacent to its grave, H’m ha! adjacent to its grave.
The oil was of great quality, so easy to burn, H’m ha! so easy to burn.
There came a ruthless cabal to pilfer the spoils, H’m ha! pilfer the spoils.
Humanity jumped up and sprayed them with muck, H’m ha! sprayed them with muck.
Upon which the peasant folk locked them all up, H’m ha! locked them all up!
Hopefully, this piece will start a dialogue that would touch on and reflect the divergent perspectives to several of the issues raised