GABA sat in his favourite chair outside the small bungalow he had built after retirement. He had decided to relocate to his home town in the village because he could not afford the luxurious life in the big city. After serving his fatherland, it was now time for him to sit back and reap the fruits of his labour, so he thought.

But it has been eight months now and his pension hasn't checked in. All he heard was that there is an ongoing restructuring of the pension system. Yet, pensioners were starving to death. Some of his fellow pensioners who couldn't cope with the situation have publicly protested this ill treatment, but all to no avail.

On retiring, he had settled for farming as a pastime activity and to put some food on the table too; but then, age was no longer on his side. Worse still, his children had all moved to the big cities in search of those blue collar jobs that were hard to come by these days.

As Gaba sat there starring blindly at the documents in his hands, it was not too hard to notice something had been bothering his mind; which was not unconnected with his recent visit to the city for a medical checkup. Just last week, he had bumped into a colleague of his, by the name of Fabu, who had also retired from service. Fabu drove into the medical centre in a black Highlander Jeep, and immediately he alighted from it, the medical doctor attended to him speedily despite the cue of other patients that were waiting. It was Fabu who first saw and recognised him.

After they had hugged each other and exchanged pleasantries, he learned through their conversation that Fabu now runs his own business and presently handling a storage contract for the government. When he raised the issue of pension, Fabu just smiled and said "I have no need for baby milk" (a term he used for pension pay). He also learned that Fabu is also into real estate business. In fact, the medical centre was one of such investment on lease.

How did Fabu came by so much money to invest in all these business after retirement with the kind of salary they received, he wondered. Probably Fabu had been saving money all these years, he thought to himself. But just then, like the flash of a lightening, it hit him!

He had been hearing stories (or should he say rumours) of some of the oddities his colleagues were doing on the job. But he didn't pay attention. Being a God fearing individual who was raised from a disciplined home, he refused accepting gifts and bribes that would influence his decision, an activity which became rife soon after he had been assigned to the Projects Department, popular called PD. In fact, he had been hearing tales of how some staffs were influencing their post to PD because of the financial benefits in that department. But as usual, he didn't believe such stories, not until he had an encounter with a client who was so desperate for one of the big supply contracts.

This client, after submitting a proposal, had paid a huge sum of money into his private bank account in a bid to curry some favours in securing the contract. The client couldn't believe his eyes and ears when he returned the money to the client and warned him never to attempt such acts ever again. Several cases like that kept repeating itself but all ended up like the first encounter - he turned them down. 

Not long afterwards, he was relieved from PD; although he was suspicious in the way and manner of his reassignment to another department. He had heard gossips that some powerful contractors who were losing out in securing big contracts had influenced his superiors to transfer him from PD. Though his time wasn't due for transfer, he however refused to question or challenge such a decision.

It didn't stop there. He vividly recalled when he was in the Finance Department, how he kept receiving various  offers to inflate payments in connivance with project evaluators and suppliers in order to put some extra money in his pocket. When he cautioned some of his colleagues against such practice, all they kept saying was "government money doesn't run out". When he refused to join in the act, one of his colleagues bluntly told him he would regret it. Although he shrugged off their counsel, however something the colleague had said kept playing like a recorder in his mind. According to this colleague, he had said, "Our past colleagues who had served the government have not been treated well at all by the same government. This has opened our eyes to those of us still in active service to make hay while the sun shines. I would rather have a bright future than a blighted one".

As he sat there, it seemed odd that there's some truth in what his colleague had said back then. The whole system seemed to be messed up. Just last week, he got a phone call that one of his colleague, a pensioner, had kicked the bucket. His death was due to his inability to afford the money to go for a proper medical treatment of a mild sickness. During the protest of non payment, he also heard that many of the protesters fainted in the process due to their old age and poor health. Their only crime was serving their country in diligence but left to drown in agony and neglect. So sad!

It is high time somebody did something about all this. Someone has to speak out for the voiceless so the world could hear and feel their agonies. And so he had contacted a friend who worked in a media firm to help him publish his story in one of the popular dailies. As he gazed at the pile of papers containing his long write-up, he concluded that the last paragraph was exactly the true picture and has said it all. Just to be sure he read it out slowly, thus:

“I am a good citizen but my country is a bad citizen. Why? Because she doesn't care about the masses who have contributed to her growth but only those who are rogues; she doesn't recognize the sacrifices of her past heroes but only those who are currently feeding fat at her stables; she doesn't care to seek justice for the poor and oppressed in society but only the mighty and affluent can afford her justice. While she tells us to be law abiding and patriotic, behind closed doors she rears a system of pollution and corruption. You tell me, does my country qualify for a good citizen with such traits? What does it take to change the system? Even when the government preaches change, it is far from the change the masses need. I have served my country in my own time but my country has refused to serve me at her own time. She has become a rogue who dupes her citizens and starve them to an early death. Yet she wonders why there is a mass exodus of youths to foreign countries that are seen by the masses as a better citizen. Yet she wonders why there is an increase in kidnappings and other crimes in the society. The good book says: 'There's no peace for the wicked', but yet my country wants to have peace while she refuses to be good. Will my country ever become a good citizen?”

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