In Kibobia, the leaders gathered once again to announce that difficult times required difficult sacrifices. The people listened politely. They had heard this speech before. They were told fuel would become more expensive so tomorrow could be better. Taxes would increase so services could improve. Public spending would be tightened. Everyone had to make painful adjustments for the good of the nation.

The Kibobians asked only one question. "Who is everyone?" Because experience had taught them that in Kibobia, everyone usually meant everyone except those making the announcement. As the people walked home, they passed new official convoys. Government residences grew larger. Overseas conferences multiplied. New offices appeared. The language of sacrifice became richer, while the evidence of sacrifice became poorer.

After a while, something changed. The people did not stop making sacrifices. They stopped believing the speeches. Their distrust was not born from hardship. Kibobians understood hardship. Their parents and grandparents had endured wars, droughts, economic crises and political upheavals. They knew that building a nation demanded patience. What they could not understand was why sacrifice always travelled in one direction.

In Kibobia, leaders believed trust came from making promises. The people knew trust came from keeping them. The leaders believed speeches inspired confidence. The people believed examples did. So whenever another appeal for sacrifice arrived, the Kibobians no longer asked whether the policy was necessary. They looked first at those making the request. "Have they reduced their own comforts?" "Have they shared in the pain?"

"Have they gone first?" If the answer was no, the speech ended before it began. The tragedy of Kibobia was not that its people had become cynical. It was that too many leaders had mistaken authority for credibility. Authority can compel obedience for a season. Only example earns trust for generations. And so the oldest saying in Kibobia became the simplest: "The people will walk behind a leader carrying the load.

They will eventually abandon the one who only points to the road.