OBLIQUE ANGLE : Coat of arms vs Wanyama Street

Two unrelated events happened in the recent past in Tanzania. First, was the ‘discovery’ of the person who designed our much cherished Coat of Arms. This was no other but Mzee Francis Maige Kanyasu aka Ngosha.

It is very unfortunate that Mzee Ngosha passed away a few weeks back. May his soul Rest In Peace. Amen. After he was ‘discovered’ and brought to the spotlight, some voices were raised claiming that he was not the designer, but somebody else. By the time Mzee Ngosha passed away, we had no way of saying with certainty who really was the designer of our National Emblem.

Sad. An important piece of history vanished just like that. To clear all the surrounding doubts, we’ll have to pour billions of shillings into researching this matter.

Could we have prevented this ‘confusion’ from happening? Of course, we could. Had we documented properly this matter (and several others), then all would have been good. But, we seem not keen enough to learn from our past mistakes. No concerted efforts seem to be going on with regarding of finding out about the key people, dates, events, objects etc. The citizens should at least see these efforts.

Second, you’ll probably recall the recent Victor Wanyama saga. This is that Kenyan professional footballer who plays for UK Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and captains the Kenya national team.

He was in the country recently. What an honour to us. Given his achievements, so many young people can be inspired to reaching their dreams. Here is a man with a down-to-earth attitude towards fellow East Africans. As he visited Tanzania, he didn’t make it a top secret like what many other world stars have been doing. Many have been reported to sneak into the country. For Wanyama, this was not the case. He even attended a match in the on-going Ndondo Cup tournament.

And, Ubungo Municipality Mayor Boniface Jacob thought it wise to rename the Ubungo National Housing Corporation Street after Wanyama. But, the sign street that was erected to effect the change was removed only on the next day.

Well, there are many ways of documenting key people, events, objects and even ideas. In Dar es Salaam, we have streets named after key people like Julius Nyerere, or events like Uhuru (Independence). There is history behind these street names. Generations to come will learn this history.

So, why did we make that U-turn on V. Wanyama Street name? Some quarters claim that the procedure was not followed. Well and good. Couldn’t we have corrected the procedure without pulling down the sign post? If you asked me, why do we have a street named after Mwai Kibaki? Who did he inspire in Tanzania?

Too much politicisation of our affairs is causing us to lose focus even on issues that matter to us all as a nation and our future generations.