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You know the pattern. We all do.

Year one, they disappear. Year two, silence. Year three, nothing moves. Then suddenly - year four - the roads get paved. The contracts get signed. The public meetings start. Ministers show up in districts they haven't visited since the last campaign.

And we're supposed to be grateful.

Here's what happens next. We forgive. We always do.

The asphalt is smooth. The project is visible. And somewhere in the back of our minds, a voice says - maybe they were just busy. Maybe governance is harder than we thought. Maybe they really are trying.

That voice is the trap.

Because if they could do it in year four, they could have done it in year one. The money was there. The need was there. The only thing missing was the election.

We know this. We've lived it. And yet, every cycle, we let ourselves believe that this time it's different. This time, the attention is real. This time, they'll stay.

They call that the definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.

We've voted for the same faces, the same promises, the same year-four performances - and then acted surprised when year one brings silence again.

Some of us went online. We posted. We commented. We tried to reach them the only way left when phones don't get answered and no townhall meetings to voice our concerns. And we were told - stop complaining on social media. Be patient. Wait.

Wait for what? For year four?

I don't even know what to ask for anymore. Accountability feels like a fantasy. Responsiveness feels like something other countries have. We've lowered our expectations so far that a paved road feels like a gift instead of a basic function of government.

That's the part that exhausts me most. Not the neglect. The cycle. The predictability of it. The way they count on us forgetting. The way we almost do.

Three years of nothing. One year of everything. Then three more years of nothing again.

The spell only breaks when we stop forgiving on schedule.

We're not stupid. We see it. We've always seen it.

We're just tired of pretending we don't.