Mr President, heed the silent voices of protest

There was once a king in the ancient Asante Kingdom who came up with a new taxation and census system. Because salt was readily available, the King decided to impose a token tax on it and the kingdom prospered. All you needed was to take a portion of salt to a designated point.  He decreed that each year, his subjects would go to a chosen point with pebble to place in a sack. He would then compare the size of past pebble deposits with those of the current year and effectively tell the degree by which the adult population had grown. That would help him in the planning for his people, including security.

Back here at home we have a President struggling with the same two issues – census and tax – but at a period of greater enlightenment in society where the password for all public policies is ‘public participation’.