Celebration as women receive FREE-INTEREST loans; while President INSISTS

Some of our people, including government officials and media men have the tendency of quoting cash figures in dollars and, while the (Tanzania) shilling is our legal tender.

We’ll cite an example picked from a recent daily (title withheld since the pro-dollar culpability is universal in Bongo’s English press) in which the scribbler reports:

“The bus rapid transit (BRT) Phase Two which spans 20.3km from Mbagala to Gerezani, has been constructed at a total cost of $159.32 million by China’s Sinahydro Construction Ltd.”

Ours are local newspapers whose target audience is people who conduct their daily transactions selling in shillings, that is, people who quickly identify with the shilling. Now why do we quote dollars when addressing a shillings population?

As Mwalimu Julius Nyerere used state starkly: “Of all the sins that our colonisers committed against us, the worst was that of making us believe our ways were (as a matter of fact), inferior to theirs.”

Now if we’re so keen on appeasing “development partners” (a politically correct wording for donors), why don’t we, in a case such as the one we bring up above, say: “…has been constructed at a total cost of Sh406.62 billion (equivalent to $159.32 million) by China’s Sinahydro Construction Ltd.” If need be, go a step further and state the rate of exchange you’ve applied.

Having thus lectured (bah!) let’s move on and deliver what this column is essentially all about, which is, sharing linguistic gems. Here we go…

Page 2 of Bongo’s senior-most broadsheet of Saturday, January 11, ran a story entitled, ‘Mwinyi calls for collective effort in education,’ and therein, the scribbler writes in attribution to what Zanzibar President Hussein Mwinyi said:

“Furthermore, Dr Mwinyi INSISTED that the government would increase the number of workers in Kojani to ensure the provision of small-scale services…”

The President insisted? We’ve a diction issue here. Why, when you use the verb “insist” there’s a supposition that what one is saying isn’t fully acceptable, that there’s opposition and one is forcibly pushing his views to others, whether they like it or not!

A president, especially in our kind of democracy, doesn’t insist on this or that, he simply says what he needs to say. As we jokingly say in Bongo, the President’s mere suggestion is an order!

On the same page, there’s a story with the headline, ‘Government unveils communication strategies to boost safety awareness.’

In Para 2 of this one, reporting in attribution to what Home Affairs minister Innocent Bashungwa said, the scribbler writes:  “Speaking during the launch which was ACCOMPANIED by opening of a working session for the ministry’s communication officers and security organs spokespersons, Minister Bashungwa said it is a constitutional right for the citizens to receive information…”

An activity “accompanied” by another activity? Like saying a football match at the school premises was accompanied by a netball match at the nearby village pitch! We consider this wrong diction. Here’s our rewrite: “Speaking during the launch which TOOK PLACE ALONGSIDE the opening of a working session for the ministry’s communication officers and security organs’ spokespersons…”

Page 4 of the broadsheet had a story headlined, ‘Youths, women, PWDs benefit from FREE INTEREST loans.” Oops! This is a really big slip. We aver the headline scribbler set out to write: “…benefit from INTEREST-FREE (not free interest) loans.”

Finally, a gem from Bongo’s huge and colourful broadsheet of Tuesday, January 14, whose Page 4 has a story entitled, ‘RUWASA to drill 5 new wells in Mara Region.’ Now writing in attribution to what was said by a senior official with the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA), the scribbler writes:

“The society must refrain from engaging in economic activities near water sources such as farming, tree-cutting and LIVESTOCK grazing…” You entertain tautological crap when you qualify “grazing” with “livestock,” for grazing is nothing else other than having livestock feed out there where there is grass.

Ah, this treacherous language called English!