A man has petitioned the National Assembly seeking to have Luo made an official language in the country.
Sammy Gwada Ogot wants the House to change Chapter Two of the Constitution to elevate the Luo Language.
He argues that this will promote the development and use of indigenous languages in line with the Constitution.
Ogot, who has been in the limelight pushing for the legalisation of bhang, says that the Luo Language has an inbuilt capacity to generate, record, translate, instruct and transmit knowledge in a scientific manner.
In the petition, Ogot argues that Luo Language is the foundation of universal knowledge and should, therefore, be recognized be made an official Language.
“That this petition identifies Luo as the first language for scientific and liturgical instructions of the world and as the root of all others, including Kiswahili and English, both which enjoy national and official status in the Constitution,” he says.
Ogot submitted the petition to the Clerk of the National Assembly Michael Sialai last week.
The Constitution identifies Kiswahili as the national language while Kiswahili and English are listed as the official languages.
But Ogot wants the article 7 of the Constitution which identifies Kiswahili and English as official languages amended to include Luo.
According to Ogot, Luo and Luhya are the two greats lights of language upon which knowledge is constructed, hence, the shared Lu identity which universally denotes luminaries or followers or descendants of light.
“Luo is the language of light in which the Holy Bible was written and is, therefore, the key to deciphering meanings of identities, expressions and contexts of all other faiths universally since all primarily constructed on Luo morphemes,” he says.
He says that the petition is a step towards realising the national ideal of self-sufficiency in language and aligns to the policy guidelines formulated by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) as well as tenets of the new education system.
He further, the Luo baptismal language of the world is an exclusive scholastic basis for the universal study of onomastics and philosophy owing to its special capacity to decode meanings of all proper nouns and names comprehensively.
“The facts I have presented recognised language as the singular vanguard, voice and van for protecting, promoting and conveying culture and knowledge and in the shared pursuit of developing, promoting, protecting local languages, I pray that Article 7 of the constitution be amended to include Luo as an official language,” he says.
