CNN journalist Larry Madowo posed a thought-provoking question to both Kenyans and Tanzanians. In his post on X platform, Larry shared images of a Kenyan note and a Tanzanian note. Notably, the Kenyan note translated the word "bank" as 'banki,' while the Tanzanian note used the term 'benki.' Larry asked the audience to determine which one was grammatically correct in the Swahili language.

Tanzanians swiftly responded in large numbers, refuting Kenyans for employing a non-existent Swahili word and asserting that the accurate translation for "bank" was 'benki.'



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Unable to counter this argument, Kenyans shifted to criticizing Tanzanians for having a weaker currency. They contended that while Tanzanian notes might be grammatically correct, the value of the currency is what truly counts.


Kenyans will never lose on anything, not even a battle of grammatical error that can be seen on broad daylight. They will argued that when faced with the choice, nobody would opt for a grammatically correct note over a stronger one! In a reminiscent debate in 2019, the Kenyan Central Bank found itself compelled to clarify that, indeed, the term 'benki' was grammatically correct. However, they deliberately chose the alternative term, as it aligned with historical and linguistic correctness.