COLUMN: MIND YOUR LANGUAGE. Lukuvi had a tenure at “lands”? please say “at the ministry of lands”
DAR ES SALAAM: THE news of the passing of Honourable William Vangimembe Lukuvi (pronounced Lukuwi?), the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Parliamentary Affairs, Coordination and Persons with Disabilities), spread like wild fire on the morning of 25 March, 2026.
The following day, all newspapers carried frontpage stories on the sad event, some saying he was 70, others saying he was 71 (what’s in a year?). They all agreed, however, that he was born on 15 August 1955.
He would have been 71 come this August. There was a lot to learn from how the stories about his life and death were narrated. The Custodian (26 March) had this front-page heading reading: “Samia conveys condolences on death of long-serving minister”.
The President is quoted as saying that the late Minister: “leaves behind a ‘storied legacy’ in government and the ruling party”. Should it be “storied legacy”, or, “strong legacy”? Well, it is “storied legacy”, and that was a lesson for me, since I would have gone for “strong legacy”.
A ‘storied legacy’ refers to a highly celebrated, renowned, or famous history that is rich with tales, achievements, or legends. It is not just a long history (the late Lukuvi was a Parliamentarian for an uninterrupted period of 31 years), but one that is well-known, respected, and worthy of retelling.
According to the writer, Hon Lukuvi had: “a remarkable tenure at Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, becoming a household name for his hands-on approach to solving chronic land disputes”.
Here we should have been told that he had a remarkable tenure at the MINISTRY of Lands etc. It should not be assumed that we know. We are told further that he famously campaigned against exploitation of tenants by brokers, but his efforts soon petered out in the absence of any formal conveyance of information on available space for those “wishing rent rooms or houses”.
I am not too sure of what the writer wanted to relate, but the end of the sentence should have read: “those wishing TO rent rooms or houses”.
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According to the Good Citizen: “Lukuvi was the longest-serving member ‘of the current parliament’, having served as MP continuously since 1995”. Something is not quite right here. The current Parliament is only five months old, and Members have not differentiated that much, one from the other, in terms of length of tenure.
My version would be: “Within the current Parliament, Honourable Lukuvi held record as the longestserving MP, having been in the House for 31 years continuously, since 1995”. One veteran politician is quoted as saying: “Lukuvi loved his constituents”.
“Constituents?”, not, “members of his constituency (Isimani)?”. The writer was dead correct: “Constituents” are people living within an electoral district represented by a politician”. Another lesson for me.
From Dodoma, we move to Zanzibar where the Custodian (26 March) had, on its page 4, a story titled: Four inmates from Kilimani Prison escape”. This is an unusual occurrence as the writer observes in his opening words: “Four inmates who were serving ‘their’ sentences at the Prison’s Training College, escaped on March 19 in an incident that sparked concern among residents and security authorities”.
So, what happened? Let us clear one thing. If you are serving a sentence, chances are you are serving your own, not somebody else’s sentence. So perhaps we could leave out the possessive adjective “their”? Instead of saying “serving their sentences”, we could simply say “serving sentences”. Perhaps. The inmates were being transported in a vehicle that got stuck in traffic.
According to the writer: “Taking advantages of the four inmates jumped off the vehicle and fled”. “Taking advantage of” what? That should have been made clear: “Taking advantage of the traffic jam, the four inmates jumped off the vehicle and fled”. May the late Lukuvi rest in eternal peace, Amen. lusuggakironde@gmail.com
