Due to WATER floods, buses on Dar road STRAPPED for hours!
Although our work as media practitioners is to convey information, there’re times we end up misinforming audiences. Or, saying virtually nothing even as we purport to inform, educate and entertain them. A waste of print paper and readers’ time! Like in the caption below, found in last weekend’s online edition of the huge and colourful broadsheet as shared by a reader via this columnist’s WhatsApp address. It reads:
“Dar es Salaam commuter buses STRAPPED in the WATER floods at Jangwani area along Morogoro road, following the ongoing rain...”
Surely there’s nothing in the world like a bus being strapped! Why, the verb “strap” means fasten or secure in a specified place or position with a strap—kamba. Nothing like that is visible in the picture, for what we see are three buses partially submerged, and they’re not strapped at all—how would they, in any case?
There’s a likelihood our colleague who handled the caption meant to tell readers that the buses were TRAPPED in the floods at Jangwani. Or, maybe, STRANDED/STUCK in the floods—they couldn’t move!
Besides, it’s superfluous to qualify the noun “floods” with “water” because the word “floods,” by itself, means an overflow of a large amount of WATER beyond its normal limits. It means, our scribbling colleague should’ve only talked about “…commuter buses TRAPPED in the floods at Jangwani…”
And now, let’s have a look at the April 27 edition of the huge Nairobi tabloid with a sizeable readership in Bongo. On Page 5, it carries a story with the headline, ‘Two KQ workers detained in Kinshasa,’ and the intro reads:
“Kenya’s Foreign Ministry has protested over two of ITS citizens held in Kinshasa since April 19, 2024.”
At the expense of being accused of fussiness, we’re noting this: The scribbler must have assumed that the determiner “its” is in reference to Kenya, but it is not! Rather, in the context of the sentence, it’s in reference to the Foreign Ministry, and the ministry doesn’t have citizens! Citizens are subjects of the Republic of Kenya. Here’s our redo of the paragraph:
“Kenya, THROUGH its Foreign Ministry, has protested over two of ITS citizens held in Kinshasa since April 19, 2024.”
In the last-but-one paragraph, our Nairobi colleague writes: “The Kenyan National Assembly Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations committee chairperson Nelson Koech has also waded ON the matter.”
The verb “wade,” literally means to step in/into or through a substance (such as water, mud, or sand) that’s thicker than air. Figuratively, as it’s the case above, it’s to get involved in an issue or move into something. It means, the sentence should have read: “…committee chairperson Nelson Koech has also waded INTO (not on) the matter.”
On Page 7, of the same tabloid, there’s a story entitled, ‘Lucy Kabuu: Star athlete, broken marriage and fight for matrimonial property,’ and therein, the scribbler writes:
“In the suit he instituted against the athlete, Mr Maina argued that he financially contributed to the acquisition and development of the PARCELS OF LANDS in Nakuru, Nairobi, Nyandarua and Laikipa counties.”
Parcels of lands? Oh, no! We say, “…parcels of LAND.” Just like we’d say: acres of land and not acres of lands.
Back to Bongo, where we get hold of our Republic’s senior-most Sunday broadsheet, which is carrying a Page 1-3 story entitled, ‘Tanzania, Somali broadens ties.’ In the last paragraph, the scribbler tells his readers:
“The Somali President’s visit to Tanzania coincided with the 60th anniversary of the union between former Republic of Tanganyika and the People’s Republic of Zanzibar, highlighting the HISTORIC ties between the two countries.”
Historic ties? No, please. Our Republic’s ties with Somalia are not historic, for there’s nothing dramatic or spectacular about the ties. Rather, the ties between these two countries are HISTORICAL, meaning, the ties have existed for a long, long time!
Ah, this treacherous language called English!
