Mgombea huyo alisema katika mdahalo kwamba ataboresha barabara za wilaya nzima.

Huyo is a demonstrative, here meaning something like that or that one.

So:

• mgombea = candidate
• mgombea huyo = that candidate

In Swahili, demonstratives usually come after the noun, unlike English. So instead of that candidate, Swahili says candidate that.

Also, huyo is the form that matches a noun in the m-/wa- class referring to a person in the singular, such as mgombea.

Alisema means he/she said.

It breaks down like this:

• a- = he/she
• -li- = past tense marker
• -sema = say

So:

• a-li-sema = he/she said

This is very typical Swahili verb structure:
subject marker + tense marker + verb root

It can mean either he or she.

Swahili does not usually mark gender in this kind of verb form. So:

• alisema = he said / she said
• ataboresha = he will improve / she will improve

You know the gender only from context, not from the verb itself.

Katika mdahalo means in the debate or during the debate.

• katika = in, inside, during, within
• mdahalo = debate

In this sentence, the most natural English sense is probably during the debate or in the debate.

So alisema katika mdahalo means the candidate said this while taking part in a debate.

Kwamba introduces a reported clause, so here it means that.

• alisema kwamba... = said that...

It connects the main statement to what was said.

So:

• Mgombea huyo alisema ... kwamba ataboresha...
• That candidate said ... that he/she will improve...

In some informal Swahili, kwamba may sometimes be omitted if the meaning is clear, but using it is very normal and clear.

Ataboresha means he/she will improve.

It breaks down as:

• a- = he/she
• -ta- = future tense marker
• -boresha = improve / make better

So:

• a-ta-boresha = he/she will improve

This is another example of the common Swahili pattern:

subject marker + tense marker + verb root

Because barabara belongs to a noun class where the singular and plural often look the same.

So:

• barabara = road
• barabara = roads

You tell whether it is singular or plural from the context and from agreement words around it.

In this sentence, it is clearly plural because of za later on:

• barabara za... = roads of...

If it were singular, you would expect singular agreement instead.

Because za agrees with barabara, and here barabara is understood as plural: roads.

In Swahili, possessive connectors like of must agree with the noun they follow.

So:

• ya = of, for some singular noun classes
• za = of, for some plural noun classes, including plural barabara

That means:

• barabara za wilaya = roads of the district

The za does not mainly agree with wilaya. It agrees with barabara.

Wilaya nzima means the whole district or the entire district.

• wilaya = district
• nzima = whole, entire, complete

In Swahili, adjectives usually come after the noun, not before it. So:

• wilaya nzima = whole district
• literally: district whole

Also, nzima changes form to agree with the noun class of wilaya. That is why you see nzima here.

In this sentence, nzima describes wilaya, not barabara.

So the meaning is:

• barabara za wilaya nzima = the roads of the whole district

In other words, the candidate said they would improve the roads across the entire district.

If nzima were describing barabara, the form and structure would be different.

Because in Swahili, tense is usually built inside the verb rather than with a separate helping word.

English:

• he will improve

Swahili:

• ataboresha

The future meaning comes from -ta-, which is inserted into the verb:

• a-ta-boresha

So Swahili often packs information that English spreads across several words into a single verb form.

Sometimes, yes, depending on style and nuance.

For example, speakers might also use expressions that mean in, at, or during, depending on the exact context. But katika mdahalo is a very natural and standard way to say in the debate or during the debate.

So for a learner, katika is a very good form to know and use here.

The basic order is:

subject + verb + place/context + reported clause

So:

• Mgombea huyo = subject
• alisema = verb
• katika mdahalo = context/place
• kwamba ataboresha barabara za wilaya nzima = what was said

Swahili word order here is actually quite close to English:

• That candidate said in the debate that he/she will improve the roads of the whole district.

But the details inside phrases are different, especially:

• demonstratives after nouns: mgombea huyo
• adjectives after nouns: wilaya nzima
• tense inside the verb: alisema, ataboresha