By George Chellah
I believe names given to streets must reflect certain popular, unifying and relevant themes within the locality that is political, historical and cultural themes.
Most preferably there should be some linkage between the name and the locality.
Also, if it’s an individual being revered with such recognition, there should definitely be some unique deeds achieved by the person to deserve such an honor.
I know that identification and recognition of heroes and heroines to name these streets after can be a very tiresome and divisive undertaking especially in a polarized environment like ours.
But please lets carefully consider some of these decisions because this is a nation’s history we are creating and history is only appreciated if its unique and anchored in respected and well-established linkages.
Whether it is paid for or not, lets be responsible enough to ensure that we author an admirable and long-running piece of history for the motherland and localities or else we risk denigrating this noble initiative all together.
I do not want to reside on a street named after a person whose alleged exceptional deeds are unheard of and therefore I cannot give full details about.
Streets must be named appropriately and within the guidelines governing this process.
For instance, if you choose to name streets after First Ladies, that is fine by me because these are well-known figures with noticeable references.
But you don’t go and punish residents by naming their street after somebody they in all fairness regard as a funny story.
I am a proud Zambian citizen and I want to be proud of my street and the persons and the themes they are named after too.
So those charged with the responsibility of making these decisions on our behalf please execute your duties diligently.
We don’t want to be rationalizing your poor decisions or lying about the alleged prowess of some of these undeserving figures you are recognizing when telling stories to our grandchildren 20 years from now.
