Dar isn’t THE commercial ‘city’ and that sidelined politician is not a ‘retired’ MP

We recently came across a story in which a man who once served at the head of company’s board of directors was referred to as “retired” chairman. Our view is that the term “retired” was carelessly used. This man had simply served a term, after which he chose not to renew it. 

A person doesn’t have the entitlement to the retiree tag SIMPLY because he quit a job; you’re a retiree if you leave your job and CEASE to work. The person in the story we cite above is simply a FORMER chairman.

The retiree title is an esteemed one, for it defines a person who has done his bit in giving service to society or an organisation and leaving to take a rest. Not because he has landed a more fulfilling job elsewhere! We’ve a statutory retirement age in Bongo—60.

It was amusing to read about a one-time MP and minister being referred to in a section of the Kiswahili press as Mbunge Mstaafu. Meaning, a retired MP! We say, No! For, as everybody knows, the guy has been relegated to the political wilderness after being defeated at the party primaries by the “notorious” wajumbe! This fellow is simply a FORMER Member of Parliament. In Kiswahili, he should be referred to as Mbunge wa Zamani. We can bet our last dime he’ll try his luck again this year!

Having thus lectured (bah!), let’s proceed to do what this column is all about, that is, sharing linguistic gems collected over the week. Here we go…

The Friday, February 7 edition of Bongo’s huge and colourful broadsheet has a story on Page 3 entitled, ‘Expert: Ulanga, Mbulu lead in epilepsy cases’. In Para 4, the scribbler, purporting to quote an expert in neurology, writes: “If pork is not cooked PROPERLY, it can lead to worms that travel to the head and block blood flow PROPERLY.”

This one is hard to decipher. We can only guess that our colleague meant to write the following: “If pork is not cooked PROPERLY, it can lead to HAVING worms that travel to the head and INTERFERE with PROPER blood FLOW.”

And then, Bongo’s senior-most broadsheet of Saturday, February 8 has dedicated Page 5 to an assortment of pictures. One of the pictures is explained by a caption thus written: “SOME residents of Ligunga Village in Tunduru District fetch water from a hand PUMPED PIPE, which is the ONLY source of clean and safe water for the villagers in RUVUMA Region.”

Hand pumped pipe? Oh, no! From what we see in the picture, we can say with confidence that the caption writer meant to say HAND PUMP. Why, says our wordbook, a hand pump is a pump that is operated manually by hand as opposed electricity or air/wind.

Furthermore, the persons in the picture—a woman and a man—by using a hand pump, are DRAWING (not fetching) water from a communal well. Now why define just two individuals as “SOME residents”? Just call them residents, or, two residents…

At the same time, when the caption writer reports that this outlet—the well operated by a hand pump—is the “ONLY source of clean and safe water FOR VILLAGERS in Ruvuma Region”, we honestly doubt it. Don’t you doubt that too, reader?

For another picture, the caption reads, “Petty traders serve their customers along Tandamti Street in the Kinondoni business area located in Dar es Salaam, the country’s COMMERCIAL CITY…”

Hello! Dar es Salaam isn’t the only commercial city in Bongo—there’re several others, definitely. What’s doubtlessly factual is that Dar is Bongo’s commercial CAPITAL. Or, if you like, Bongo’s LEADING commercial city.

Ah, this treacherous language called English!