They wake up every morning with hope but return home with despair workers across the country are crying for help their salaries have gone unpaid for months and their voices are being ignored by those in power
These are men and women who have given their best to public institutions private companies and essential services they have worked under the sun in hospitals in classrooms in offices yet they have not received what they earned and now the consequences are everywhere
Children are dropping out of school because parents cannot pay fees uniforms and books many have turned to street hawking others sit at home idle dreaming of an education that is slipping away hunger is becoming normal in homes that were once full of promise workers who once held their heads high now struggle to provide a single meal
Rent is unpaid families are evicted electricity and water are cut off medical bills go untouched while illnesses worsen debts are rising marriages are under pressure mental health is collapsing and all the while silence continues from employers and authorities
They march they protest they write letters they go to the media but promises are made and broken again and again the gap between government announcements and reality on the ground grows wider
These workers are not lazy they are not begging for handouts they are demanding what is theirs their wages their dignity their right to live a decent life
It is not only a matter of finance it is a matter of justice of humanity of national stability because when workers suffer society suffers and when families break the future weakens
We cannot claim progress while teachers go unpaid we cannot preach development while nurses are hungry we cannot talk of nation building when builders of the nation are abandoned
The time to act is now pay the workers respect their labour restore their dignity or risk losing the very soul of the workforce that keeps this country standing
