COLUMN: MIND YOUR LANGUAGE. In which country is the Zambezi ‘Liver’?

DAR ES SALAAM: IN a postgraduate programme in which I am currently involved, there is a course titled ‘Financing Infrastructure Development’, addressing matters related to financing of big infrastructure such as highways, power generation and supply, ports, water works, irrigation, railways and others.

Financing SGR is among the important topics. As such, the front page headline, in thick black, reading: “Government ‘extended’ $1.28 billion loan for SGR fourth lot”, appearing in the Custodian of 30 April, was too attractive to pass unread. But was the phrasing correct?

Was the government extended the huge loan? Luckily, these days, you can always consult. While the heading is grammatically correct, that is not the standard or clearest way to phrase it.

The verb “extended” is often used in formal financing contexts but it can be ambiguous to mean either giving a loan or extending the period to pay back the loan. Moreover, in this particular case, it is not the government that is extending (giving) the loan.

It is receiving the loan. A good writer will not want to leave the readers guessing, as to what actually happened. So, it is best to rephrase the headline into something like: “Government offered $1.28 billion loan for SGR fourth lot”, if the loan was a new one; or “Government offered a $1.28 billion loan extension for SGR fourth lot”, if the loan is a continuation of another package.

This fits in well with the news item’s opening paragraph which reads as follows: “The government has signed a financing agreement for $1.277 for construction of the standard gauge railway (SGR) fourth ‘slot’ (‘lot?) from Makutupora to Isaka”.

The news is accompanied by a lovely colourful photograph whose caption tells it all: “Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary, Dr NEMM, and Standard Chartered Bank CEO, HK, pictured in Dodoma city yesterday exchanging documents on financing agreement in respect of the USD 1.277 billion/- completion of lots 3 and 4 of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Makutupora to Isaka”. From the caption, we are talking about “lots”, and not “slots”.

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Besides, the “hashtag” (/-), is used to mean shillings. It has no place in this caption, since the currency of the loan is clearly pointed out as being US dollars. It looks like the loan is an extension of some package.

This is confirmed by what the Finance Minister, Ambassador KMO, is quoted to have said: “the funds are part of a broader $2.33bn financing package for the strategic project with the contract covering the construction of the Makutupora to ISAKA (368km) and Tabora to ISAKA (165km), bringing the total length under this phase to 533 kilometres”.

Those who know the geography will find reference to “Makutupora to Isaka” and “Tabora to Isaka” rather strange. By the time you get to Isaka, from Makutupora, you will have left Tabora behind. Indeed, the distance from Makutupora to Isaka is 533km. It would appear that the writer used the name ISAKA twice unnecessarily.

Instead, it is Tabora that should have appeared twice. The distances should have been labelled: “Makutopora to Tabora (368km)” and “Tabora to Isaka (165km)”, making a total of 533km. This is certainly good news for Tanzania! Let us end up by looking at a hilarious quotation from one media outlet. A gentleman, apparently a tourist, posted this when he was crossing a certain bridge.

“Zambezi Liver ……South Africa to Tanzania”. The Zambezi flows through or forms the borders of six primary countries: Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Its source is in Zambia and empties in the Indian Ocean through Mozambique.