- He has challenged the government to cooperate with other national and regional bodies concerned with improving Kiswahili.
- Article 7 of the Constitution of Kenya is clear that Kiswahili and English are co-official languages.
Image: FILE
Kamkunji MP Yusuf Hassan wants the government through the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage to officially establish the National Kiswahili Council.
In a motion before the National Assembly, Hassan wants the government to launch specific strategies, methods and policies that are required to promote and develop the Kiswahili language.
He has challenged the government to cooperate with other national and regional bodies concerned with improving Kiswahili.
“Kiswahili is the native language for communities in the coastal region of Kenya, and also a large number of Kenyans are speakers of the language,” he said.
“English language is very strong in official communication, and therefore contributing to the weakening of our Kiswahili language.”
Hassan noted that Tanzania created the National Kiswahili Council (BAKITA) in 1967 while Zanzibar did the Kiswahili Market of Zanzibar (BAKIZA) in 2004, with the purpose of promoting, strengthening and developing the language.
On August 14, 2018, retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Cabinet approved the establishment of the National Kiswahili Council to inform government policy on developing, protecting and supporting the language.
“The establishment of the National Kiswahili Council is in line with Article 137 of the East African Community treaty which provides that Kiswahili shall be promoted, developed and used as a Community language,” State House said in a statement.
It said the council will be a consultative agency whose functions will include coordinating the work of national and regional associations, cultural entities, educational and other organisations working in the area of Kiswahili.
Article 7 of the Constitution states that Kiswahili and English are co-official languages. Kiswahili is also recognised as the national language.
Although other members of the East African Community such as Tanzania and Uganda have made tremendous progress in the area, Kenya has been dragging.
Kenya has been relying on Tanzania’s BAKITA in the standardisation of ‘new’ Kiswahili lexicon.
BAKITA, which is domiciled in the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports of Tanzania, recently released a list of standardised terminologies that have been adopted in communicating about the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kenya has borrowed the terminologies from Tanzania.
Kiswahili scholars and enthusiasts have also appealed to the government to set up a council to promote the language.
The scholars spoke at Moi University on July 6 during celebrations to mark World Kiswahili Language Day.
They argued that the council otherwise will help unite all Swahili stakeholders in the country and East Africa.
Kiswahili has been cited for playing an integral role in developing every country’s social, economic and political fabric
(Edited by Tabnacha O)