Why ‘Nation’ must refer to people by the name they call themselves

Ivory Coast is the name used by those who have difficulty writing or pronouncing the name the natives use. They may also use the name out of habit.

Nation journalists use the name, which is an English translation of Côte d’Ivoire, perhaps because of all those reasons.

We shall return to this matter because it brings into question editorial standards as well as the general rule of calling people by their self-proclaimed name.

For now, let’s take a detour, which may partly explain why Kenyans are interested in this former French colony in West Africa that is about half the size of Kenya.

We begin with artiste James Wahome. He named one of his most popular songs Abidjan, the commercial and de facto capital of Côte d’Ivoire, which, with a population of just over five million, is about the size of Nairobi.

Recorded in 2009, the song is about a man leaving to work abroad. He asks his wife to stop crying because “Abidjan is not far; it’s just here in Africa.” That line is repeated several times in the lyrics of the Kikuyu song.

Charles Mangua, the author of the 1971 novel Son of Woman, a hit in the 1970s and ‘80s, created another urban legend about Côte d’Ivoire.

In a newspaper interview 10 years ago, he claimed he wrote the sequel, Son of Woman in Mombasa, on the beaches of Abidjan (See “I could drink my royalties in one week, says Mangua”—Daily Nation, December 21, 2012).

Mangua left Kenya in 1996 for Côte d’Ivoire, where he worked with the African Development Bank for 27 years.

Raila Odinga made the country a household name when, in December 2010, he was named by the African Union to lead a delegation to mediate the political crisis in Côte d’Ivoire and help avert another civil war over election results.

It was an interesting assignment as Mr Odinga had just been involved in rejecting election results in Kenya under similar circumstances.

Africa’s finest

But it’s the numerous Nation stories on The Elephants, the national football team of Côte d’Ivoire, that really made the country so well known in Kenya.

The Elephants is one of Africa’s finest national football teams, perhaps only rivalled by Senegal’s Lions of Teranga. 

Côte d’Ivoire has produced some of the best football players, who also play for premier European clubs. They include Yaya Touré and his elder brother Kolo Touré, Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Eboué.

In 2013, Yaya Touré visited the UN headquarters in Nairobi to accept his appointment as a UNEP Goodwill Ambassador. In 2014, he was named the African Footballer of the Year and Airtel’s Brand Ambassador for Africa.

I will stop the detour here, with Toure’s visit to Nairobi. The detour has been long enough. Let’s now return to the use of the exonym Ivory Coast. Its use irritates the government and people of Côte d’Ivoire—and rightly so. It also violates Nation usage rules.

In 1985, the country announced to the world that its name is Côte d’Ivoire, not Ivory Coast. It said it would no longer accept or recognise translations of its name and decreed it be known as Côte d’Ivoire in every language.

Consequently, Fifa now uses the name Côte d’Ivoire when referring to the country or its football team. Most nations officially use the name Côte d’Ivoire.

But more than 30 years down the line, Nation journalists still refer to the country as Ivory Coast.

In 90 per cent of their stories, they use the name Ivory Coast, which also shows a lack of consistency and standardisation.

This is to say nothing of adherence to the Nation Media Group Manual of Style and Usage that requires them to use the name Côte d’Ivoire, not Ivory Coast.

The manual is supposed to ensure consistency, readability and standards. Its use is mandatory. Therefore, the Côte d’Ivoire rule must be enforced or the manual amended. 

I raised this issue with the Head of News and Managing Editor, Churchill Otieno, who has the responsibility of ensuring appropriate content in all Nation outlets.

“The NMG Manual of Style and Usage is the last word,” he said. “We will get the (editorial) team to conform. Many thanks for bringing this to our attention.”

This is good news for readability, standardisation, Côte d’Ivoire and The Elephants.

Misleading headline was cheeky

I refer to the story “Members of disbanded DCI unit revealed”, the top story in Nation.Africa on October 21.

This title is misleading and inaccurate since no names are revealed in the story. Instead, the author cheekily inserts—the grammatical error notwithstanding—this statement within the story: “The Nation has concealed the name (sic) of the officers for legal reasons.”

—0722263XXX

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‘Pubic typos’ put me on the alert

I refer to your article “Pubic typos: Why they’re hideous, distracting and very embarrassing” (Daily Nation, October 4).

I must confess that I derived much pleasure from reading it. It was not only entertaining but extremely well-written and informative.

As an avid reader and writer, it has inspired me to be on the lookout for inaccuracies in professional publications such as yours.

In this regard, I refer to Kaltum Guyo’s article, “Do not negotiate with suspects”(Daily Nation, October 24).

The second paragraph (print version) reads: “One doesn’t need to be a genius to deduce that the cases involving the nominee CSs were dropped for lack of merit but to pave the way for their appointments to the posts designated for them.”

I feel that failure to insert the word “not” between “dropped” and “for” rendered the meaning inaccurate and incoherent. I stand to be corrected.

I thank you once again for the admirable role you are playing as a public editor. (I had to take extra precautions to ensure that i did not commit the unforgivable mistake of referring to you as a ‘pubic editor’.)

— Ibrahim Bishar, freelance writer

Opinion Editor: We noticed the typo after the first edition and corrected it. We regret the error.

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Your article today! What a shame! I’m surprised nobody has referred to you as “Pubic Editor”! But very hilariously delivered!

—Pamella Sittoni

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Bring back the conman’s column

Some years ago, the Nation had a column on how people are conned. Listening to Senator Danson Mungatana on how he lost Sh70 million, I felt if the column still existed he would have thought twice. The column was very educative as it updated readers on new tricks. It, thus, saved many potential victims of tricksters .

—Githaiga Kairu

The Public Editor is an independent news ombudsman who handles readers’ complaints on editorial matters including accuracy and journalistic standards. Email: [email protected]. Call or text 0721989264