'Grammatical error’ on new banknotes leaves Kenyans divided

The new Kenyan banknotes were unveiled recently and are already in circulation but hawk-eyed netizens have made a discovery.

It has to do with the translation of the word bank in Swahili.

The new notes read ‘Banki Kuu ya Kenya’ referring to the Central Bank of Kenya but a section of Kenyans believe the correct translation of the word ‘bank’ should be ‘benki’.

The debate was so heated that it drew the attention of CBK Head of Communication Wallace Kantai who maintained that there was no error.

“Both Banki’ na ‘Benki’ are correct,” he said.

The Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) argued that the translation of the word ‘bank’ is ‘benki’ but netizens provided evidence that both ‘benki’ and ‘banki’ are correct.

“This is why I keep saying Kenyans are petty. The word ‘Banki’ has been on even the old currency, it has never been ‘Benki’.

“But, somehow, some of you are just noticing it now because you’re idle and feel like throwing a tantrum for no reason,” wrote one Ian Duncan wrote.

Photos of Tanzanian banknotes were shared online and all were written ‘benki’ but Kantai stated that their language should not be used to determine how the word should be written.