THE TALE OF TWO SIBLINGS: WHISPERS OF SACRIFICE

Both siblings—Protest and Riot, were strolling through the dead streets of the land. The people were not convinced by the King’s promises; they all wore long, pale faces. Hours swallowed minutes, days swallowed hours, and months swallowed days, yet still, there was no tangible word from the King. It almost felt as though their message had been buried in the desert sands. Perhaps he hadn’t truly comprehended their pleas from a place of empathy—or had he?

Looking for the perfect tree to shade them from the malicious sun, they found the wise man, seated quietly, lost in thought. Protest and Riot approached him to greet an old friend.

‘What are you two inseparable siblings wandering the streets for in this scorching sun?’, the wise man asked.

Without hesitation, they both echoed simultaneously, ‘It seems our message to the King is lost and long gone. It appears it was just a moment of joy when he gave us his word. We need to think of a better approach to get through to him.’

‘Since your peaceful way isn’t yielding results, we must use violence. Peace aches my head. I wasn’t born for this softness. I was born and baptised in the fire of combat. Even in my mother’s womb, I was taught never to retreat or surrender. So, we strike!’, Riot confidently and fiercely declared.

However, the wise man listened to all Protest and Riot had to say but remained silent. Instead, he stood up and quietly walked to another shade close to the riverbank to clear his head. All he could hear were the voices of the travelling wind and the rhythms of the soaring birds. He took out a pen and paper from his leather bag and began to write a letter to the King.

‘Your Majesty, I hope this letter finds you well.

The land was visited at the start of August 2024 by a vibrant lady, Protest. However, it was her wilful brother, Riot, who prevailed, and in the process, the people’s message was lost. The land is still very much infested by hunger. Our river doesn’t dance and sing in rhythms anymore because it’s on the verge of drying up to mud. The streets are strewn with debris, and the people's anger is still palpable in the air. There is a current level of distrust between the people and their government, rooted in the perception that the leaders are not making personal sacrifices for the good of the land.

It is infuriating that the people continue to hear of huge sums of money being squandered by those in authority, while citizens struggle daily to feed themselves and are forced to make the sacrifices you prescribed as a solution to the current situation.

Let me walk you down an ancient tale, Your Majesty, the story of King Minos of Crete. “King Minos was the ruler of the Minoan civilisation, a powerful and advanced culture in ancient Greece. He was given a beautiful bull by the sea god Poseidon, which he was supposed to sacrifice to the god. But Minos decided to keep the bull for himself, angering Poseidon. As punishment, Poseidon made Minos' wife, Pasiphae, fall in love with the bull, resulting in the birth of the Minotaur, a monstrous creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man.

The Minotaur was imprisoned in the Labyrinth, a maze-like structure beneath King Minos’ palace. Every nine years, Minos demanded that seven young men and seven young women from Athens be sent to Crete to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, as punishment for the death of his son. Theseus, a young Greek hero and the son of the king of Athens, volunteered to be one of the fourteen victims to slay the Minotaur and free his people from the beast's terror.

With the help of Minos' daughter, Ariadne, Theseus managed to navigate the Labyrinth and slay the Minotaur, ending the sacrifices and freeing his people from the terror.”

Do you know the interesting part of this story, Your Majesty? The sacrifices of the people only ceased when King Minos himself made a personal sacrifice, allowing Theseus to confront the Minotaur.

The moral behind this story is the importance of personal sacrifice, especially from those in positions of power. Such acts can have a significant impact on the well-being of the people and help regain their trust.

In the story, Minos' failure to make a personal sacrifice led to suffering and death for his people, while Theseus' selfless act saved them from the Minotaur's terror. The message is that leaders must be willing to make personal sacrifices for the good of their people, as selfishness and greed can lead to devastating consequences for society.

Indeed, you began to do so when you instructed your spokesperson to announce cuts in travelling costs. You set new limits on the number of officials that would accompany you, your wife, the regent, and his. However, you fell short of what was required—failing to provide a frame of reference for the cuts in travel costs. This made it difficult for the public to see your gesture as a real sacrifice. Leaders need to make tangible, visible sacrifices if they wish to regain the trust of their people and rebuild their credibility.

Is this too demanding for you and those in authority? No, it is not. So let us do more, and do it better. We start with a proposed sacrifice by lawmakers at every level, where they would each give up a significant portion of their monthly salaries—469 Federal Lawmakers giving up ?10 million and 902 State Lawmakers giving up ?3 million.

If lawmakers made these sacrifices, poor and hungry citizens would have ?4.69 billion and ?2.7 billion, or ?7.39 billion monthly from the money freed up. This money could be used to directly address extreme hunger and poverty in our land. Local communities should have a direct say in how the funds are used, through town hall meetings where people could voice their concerns and priorities.

If the lawmakers continued to make these sacrifices for a year, and if the local communities continued to have a direct say in how the funds were used, it would lead to a greater sense of cooperation and trust between the people and their government. This cooperation could then be extended to other challenges facing the land, creating a sustainable and effective way of addressing the root causes of hunger, poverty, and inequality.

Your Majesty, when leaders make personal sacrifices, it signals to the people that they are invested in the well-being of the land and its citizens. This can help to change how people view politics in our land, from a system of tribalism and parochialism to one that values issue-based politics.

Signed, The Wise Man.’

The wise man stamped his letter and sent it to the King with his fingers crossed and a small sense of relief lifting from his heart and shoulders.

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? Uduak Eti

Soji Apampa Integrity Organization Limited. (Gte.) Convention on Business Integrity

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