Steps taken by the Dar es Salaam City Council to rename a number of streets in the capital have been widely criticised. New names include Nyerere Road (formerly Pugu Road) and Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road (formerly Bagamoyo Road). Adding to the criticism was the action of the Coca Cola Company in donating the new Mwinyi Road sign and attaching their trade mark to it. Senior government officials have complained about ‘prostituting’ the honour of the presidency.

Mwalimu Nyerere has reportedly asked the Mayor to rescind the decision because as long as he lived he wanted to live as an ordinary citizen and rejected all schemes designed to erect monuments or relics in his honour. He complained that he had not been consulted before the change was made – Family Mirror.

AND WHO IS GOING TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS?

Franklin Mziray in the Daily News has been raising a few questions:
– who from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will go to Brazzaville and Rabat to explain why we have removed these countries’ names from our streets?
– who will be making a courtesy call on former CCM Vice- Chairman Rashidi Kawawa to explain why such a narrow unworthy street as Kigoma Road has been named after him?
– who is going to alter all the hundreds of house plot names that will have to be changed?
– how many of us use the earlier list of new names? Sokoine Drive instead of City Drive? Samora Machel for Independence Avenue?