A Chat with the Tax Man

Task man said, “I am extremely happy that many of my relatives are in your country, the latest been internet tax.
 “But why are you happy when my people hate you and they wish they had a way of getting rid of you,” I asked.
He chuckles and taps my shoulder, “look, wherever you go many of my kinds are introduced and your minister has brought back sales tax, another name for VAT.”
“How unfair, so you are happy to torture poor people like this?” I asked.
“You are adding so many burdens to people who are financially disadvantaged already.”
He looks at me with sharp eyes, “you are right, but let me give you a proper definition of tax unlike what you are taught in school.”
He continued,” tax is money that is collected from citizens so that the politicians never die of starvation.”
“But politicians already have disposable income,” I interjected.
“Who said so? Because after they increase their salaries, they still complain that the money is not enough,” He replied.
“See, that’s why they love people like you who are young and energetic: Because you will work harder every passing day so that they can come and get most of your earnings in form of tax.”
He continued, “These guys are really obsessed with tax and that is the reason why they even arrest you for attempting suicide. They know how much money you can give them until you expire due to old age.”
“Your minister a few weeks ago presented your national budget; do you know that the word tax appeared more than the word economy? That’s how much important we are.”
I bit my tongue as he continues to speak.
“And your country has only a few of us, then why all these cries?” He asked.
I replied,” I mentioned earlier on that most of us are not rich, have mercy on us.”
He scans my eyes and says, “My friend, you can’t survive the tax system in the western world. Imagine the federal government collecting about 100 taxes annually from you, not to mention the various taxes a state imposes on you.”
“What kind of taxes makes that list?” I asked.
“Inheritance tax, climate change levy even if you own no industry,” He replied.

Fellows from that side take us serious because you can easily get arrested if you fail to comply.
“Do you remember Wesley?” He asked.
I replied,” Yes, I was a big fan of his vampire movies.”
They never cared how much entertainment he brought, he was thrown behind bars.
He added, “And your favourite footballer.”
“Come on you mean, Leo?” I asked.
“He is only a magician on the pitch; the spell failed to perform on a tax man otherwise he was going to get caged,” He replied.
“My friend, just tighten up your belts because slowly but sure, my specie will flood your payslips and if you choose to remain out of employment, we have a way to access your wallet.”

Teenage Gang: Why the Rise?

                                               

News of people mostly living in urban or peri-urban areas getting terrorized by gangs has become so common in modern era than was in the past.

On May 9, 2018 the nation woke up to shocking news of 14 juveniles with the youngest 14 years old arrested of heinous crimes on the Copperbelt with the Human Rights Commission requesting the Zambian Police to further investigate the formation of gangs that will help in combating gangsterism.

And Zambia Police Service spokesperson Esther Katongo said the juveniles were arrested pertaining to a video that was circulating on social media showing them severely beating a helpless 16 year old boy.

“Fourteen thugs who participated in the gruesome beating of a male person in the video circulating on social media have been arrested by police,” She said.

One would wonder as to what could prompt teenagers to act in such an inhumane manner. Why are adolescents then willing to join these gangs.

According to a research by Psychology Today there are several motives that cause teenagers to engage themselves in acts of criminality and these among others are: peer pressure, money motives, need for prestige, family backgrounds, presence of gangs in the neighbourhood, poverty, abuse from adults or peers, lack of success in other areas of life such as school and also access to drugs and weapons.

The major influence is exposure to negative media products such as gangster music and movies that portray a gangster life as one filled with fun, fortune and power which promises a fairytale of “Rags to Riches”.

Juveniles therefore lack the maturity and critical thinking to to distinguish popular culture as portrayed in the media with reality. Hence, can not fully understand the consequences of belonging to a gang.

An idle life where these adolescents have lack or no alternative activities to occupy their attention becomes a soft spot for gangs to recruit them.

Gangsterism may be difficult to eradicate as there are far too many things that could influence a child to join gangs.

However, there are some ways that parents need to undertake to prevent their kids from joining gangs such as spending quality time with children to show them love and a sense of belonging, getting involved in child’s school activities, being a positive role model such as taking a strong action against illegal activity and knowing your childs friends.

Counselling children over: succeeding in academics, dangers of gang involvement and associations.

And the role of government should be promotional of recreational fascilities to help keep the juveniles occupied in meaningful activities.

Together, we can combat the rise of teenage gangs and better their lifes so that they grow into more responsible adults.

AFRICAS ILLITERACY: AVAILABILITY OF KNOWLEDGE OR LACK OF IT.

Nowadays it is no longer a surprise to see almost anyone with a smartphone in Africa, great thanks to technology hence allowing users to access the internet at unprecedented levels.

According to a report published by GSMA on Africa’s mobile economy number of smartphone connections across the continent almost doubled over the years, reaching 226 million. Selling prices have dropped from an average of $230 in 2012 to $160 in 2015.

It’s no doubt this immense development has brought access to knowledge on food, culture, economics and politics. With internet explosion, one would argue that Africa would eloquently become informed due to availability of knowledge it’s sad to note otherwise.

But the question is, what do Africans do on internet: browsing, chatting, researching or reading? Due to low levels of innovation and information sharing, one would expect the African culture to find it more fun in reading and researching due to a wide range of materials the internet provides.

Some people are spotted spending countless hours on the internet and having one core business there and certainly one of them is not actually reading. Primarily, what most people do is engage into mindless arguing and professional trolling.

Even with the availability of e-magazines and newspapers, the vast majority of smartphone users continue to remain uninformed.

No matter how accessible things have become, African culture is not just a reading culture by evidence of how it preserved history orally and not literally with barely any written records. This is evidenced by the effect it has had in future generations.

Although the twist was there during colonization when Africans begun to imitate the missionary’s lifestyle of knowledge sharing and acquisition through reading: the unfortunate thing is that this is no longer considered as a top priority in modern Africa.

The last type of reading has mostly remained in formal education of which the use is not merely for the acquisition of knowledge but entirely to remain current in the academic system and is wholly abandoned immediately formal education is over.

Hiding things to an African in Writing is entirely true, we prefer being told and not to find out and ask how. Reading is powerful, and that’s the ultimate principle of modernization.

A pprofessor of literature, rhetoric, and writing said ,“The truth is that most of us read continuously in a perpetual stream of incestuous words, but instead of reading novels, book reviews, or newspapers like we used to in the ancient regime (past), we now read text messages, social media, and bite-sized entries.”

Africa’s illiteracy is indeed in its poor reading culture and not necessarily the unavailability of information.

POLITICAL DIVISION

The philosophy of a free and happy society was among the themes after a vigorous attempt to crack down colonial guys from power. A land flowing with milk and honey was everyones song after our enemy got kicked out. The fellow black ruler brought a sense of belonging to the blessed land, seing their own taking a lead was every citizens dream. So satisfycing indeed...in a gradual twist 50 shades of black rule down the line has painted the face of the worser evil, much advanced in uglyness than those in colonial authority. Uncertainty, selfishness, idiocy, mediocrity, inferiority and regionalism is now the color the system is painted in. Black man is now superior among his fellow black men. Despite of all this, still others would still utter "napoleon is always right"...will it still get worser than we are accustomed to?

POLITICAL HYPOCRITES

''Dont suppose you know whats really happening simply by listening to the media,'' president jefferson. And a zambian patriot encourages i take interest in knowing whats going on in the society of which i did. I sit behind the telescreen-the news pops around evening, some workers protesting over poor work conditions, in balancing things up the media plays the recording for the managers defence. The opposite of the protesters is what his defence depicts and further paints them black. In the next heading, the elite says even if debt exceeds the GDP it doesnt outline the impossibility of paying back, their praise team applauds the claim saying even the US is in similar mess after all no country runs on no debt. The boomerang effect is sweeping through and the elite are now praying for manna, the praise team are bleeting that the rulers are always right. If the decision is wrong, it is right because its in effect. If it gets changed, then the reason is right. Whom do i take serious, the thesis or the antithesis, the other convincing you with their opinion and the latter assuming that the formers claim is mere fallacy. Taking none of the above seriously is okay, no polarisation but merely taking a strong root in the middle of these two extremes. He who has eyes will see.

CASH AND THE SPIRITUAL PART

A fairy looking young man walks up to my stall before mid morning and asks i break his money in units. Im unable to, so he flawns his face in what seems as a huge brawl imbedded in his cheeks. He turns and shoots his way straight to some noisy bulding. I understand his desire for a god. He looks smart but he is holding a guide in his palms which would have made him smarter, but the looks are outweighing his knowledge. He looks more worried for not donating part of his cash than more inquistive as to why he should never give out a cent. And many have fallen victim for the same. The document in his hands has rich information, there seems to be so much laziness for him to flip a page on his free accord or he sees the truth but never asks the obvious. He reads about white, when the preacher says the reading is black, then thats the ultimate truth. Never asks why afterall they are qualified for the job and maybe the third part of the trinity told them so. If he had a philosophical hunger, he would have just walked to the building not worried about the donating because he would have known the truth and the truth would have set him free...

USELESS EATERS

these have signed a life contract with food. Give them books, achievements and all that can make humanity thrive, they would never appreciate that as long as food is absent. These are simply noise makers of the society ranging from academics, professionals, business men and the desperate common man. They find it difficult to use brains even at the least. They chose the leader who later messes with their favorite meal, they mourn at their reckless voting. They vow to vote for the other if opportunity strikes. The other useless eaters seem knowledgeable by mocking those who made that earlier decision. They claim their man would have been better off. But hey, human beings are unpredictable. Their thinking is that self success is synonymous to the larger society . They confine themselves with his riches after all its an indication of the persons hardwork. The worst hope is believing that fellow man will pull down your strings of poverty. But this is nothing to the useless eaters, they think by knowing the political drama down the hills then they are simply well informed. Suppose their claim is true, so what? Some LSK seat gets nullified, the useless eaters cheer not knowing a by election will cost much. But they will say its democracy and people ought to be heard. A typical useless answer from useless eaters, their tummies are more important than anything, instead of solutions. They prefer that which gets to the throne in their conformity. Its so true that man is enemy of himself, if he was left with no food to eat; he would kill his fellow man as food in order to survive. Democracy gave them a humble man and the humble man wanna extend his stay no matter the mourning. The man is already comfortable, cry blood, sulpher or an ocean democracy never gives a damn. The circus comes back to the useless eaters who mourn at their vote mismanagement. Its a rat race moving around a circle. The speed is great but the vector is minimal to the circle. If no thinking comes from the useless eaters, it will be the same agony jubiliation and cursing their decisions. As things stands THE MOURNING CONTINUES....