Screenshots of a news headline by NTV are making rounds on social media with a number of Kenyans questioning the use of a word which many suspected was wrong.
The headline emerged on Tuesday night during a bulletin on the controversy surrounding the rejection of a parliamentary committee report probing the sugar importation scandal.
Unknown to a number of those evidently giggling over the choice of words in the headline "KANINI FINGERS DUALE" is that the station's editorial was spot on given the happenings in Parliament.
[caption caption="Photo showing NTV using the word on news "]
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There are claims that a number of Members on Parliament including the Majority Leader Aden Duale and Minority Leader John Mbadi were bribed to kick out the report by the committee chaired by Kieni MP Kanini Kega.
The word 'fingers' was correctly used in the headline on the contention emerging from the rejection of the report.
According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, the word 'finger' when used as a verb describes when a person informs on the other as in the case of telling the authorities that someone is guilty of a certain offense.
This, therefore, justifies the NTV headline given the Kieni MP had linked the Majority Leader to a company that was being targeted in the sugar scandal probe.
It is notable that by stating that Duale had personal interests vested in the probe, Kanini had fingered him and thus the editors would retain the right to even use the word once again.
"With all the attention created, this is actually correct (informal though), when you accuse someone of doing something illegal and tell police about it. So, yes, KANINI FINGERS DUALE," wrote one Haggai Allan on Twitter while many who misinterpreted the word usage giggled and condemned its usage on TV.
The same definition is given by Macmillan and Oxford online dictionaries.
[caption caption="Definition of 'finger' when used as a verb according to Macmillan dictionary"]
[/caption][caption caption="Oxford definition of the word 'finger' when used as a verb"]
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