Hanang

May I send you my opinion of the "disease" of misnomers in what was formerly the Mbulu District and now split into current Hanang", Babati, Mbulu and Karatu Districts.

I will limit myself to the misnomers and corrupted names of places in that area.

I would like to start with the names of those districts i.e. Mbulu is an improper name for that District and the name of its headquarters. The proper name is supposed to be Imboru. The indigenous s are my witnesses though unfortunately they have accepted the name for too long a time.

The proper name Imboru was corrupted by the German colonizers who mispronounced it Mbulu and recorded it as such.

Another misnomer is "Hanang", also name of the District. Unfortunately, mispronounced and misspelt. The proper name derived from the Mountain within the district, which is /Anang"W (with special cushitic guttural sound /A). The /Anang"W District headquarters should be Qatesh and not Katesh

Another example is a Ward in the Imboru District misrepresented as Daudi, while it should be called Dawdi. These are only a few examples. There are plenty of other misnomers in the area.

I have talked to friends about my irritation on these misnomers. They argue it was too late to go back to the original names.

I still feel these names should be written and pronounced in their original and proper nature because even big cities and countries have change their names to their originalities. Take examples of Peking which has gone to its indigenous origin of Beijing. Bombay has gone back to their Indian name of Mumbai. Bechuanaland is now Botswana.

If such big places changed their originals after going with misnomers for long time, why not our places in the districts I have mentioned?

I therefore appeal for full support in this little campaign of changing our identities to their indigenous original names.

Secondly, I appeal to both local and central governments to agree to the proposal to use the proper names as I am suggesting.