Promote Kiswahili not Luganda
Mar 23, 2008
FOR a long time, there has been a debate on what Uganda’s lingua franca should be. The argument has always been between Luganda and Kiswahili. The protagonists on either side are always passionate if not sentimental and sometimes hysterical on the subject.
By Moses Mapesa
FOR a long time, there has been a debate on what Uganda’s lingua franca should be. The argument has always been between Luganda and Kiswahili. The protagonists on either side are always passionate if not sentimental and sometimes hysterical on the subject.
Without trying to go either side of the debate, I wish to share some facts about the Kiswahili, which I “dug up†after reading a one-sided article about the beauty of Luganda as a national language in therecently.
Paradoxically, I was on my way to Rwanda to help conduct interviews for a regional conservation office we were establishing in Kigali and one of the requirements was ability to communicate in the Kiswahili. We did get some good candidates who could speak it reasonably well, but Luganda did not feature anywhere as an added advantage.
I remembered that earlier, I had a similar experience where Kiswahili was a must speak when I was invited twice as a panelist to interview candidates in Nairobi, Kenya for regional jobs and once in Arusha, Tanzania.
I also happen to sit on a few boards and committees in African and often times, we have had to use Kiswahili when communicating with each other in our free time, to get a point home or during a consultative period to agree on a position.
While travelling outside Africa, Kiswahili is generally known as the major African language. And many Whites will attempt to say ‘Jambo’ when you say you are from Africa.
So I decided to search for more information about the language and I was surprised by what I found out in the Wikepedia. Here are the facts:
Kiswahili is spoken as a first language by up to 10 million people and as a second language by over 80 million people.
Kiswahili is spoken in over 12 African countries including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo DRC, Somalia, Comoros, Mozambique, Zambia, Sudan
It is in the language families of Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern and Narrow Bantu.
Kiswahili is an official working language of the African Union and the East African Community.
Kiswahili is the national language of Tanzania and Kenya.
The language is considered the lingua franca of East Africa and eastern Congo DR.
Kiswahili is spoken as a native language, national language, official language and trade language.
You can get a job in America, Europe or Asia as a Kiswahili speaker, in the media houses, schools and colleges or as interpreters.
Kiswahili programmes are broadcast on Voice of America, BBC and Duestchwella radios for a very large audience overseas and in Africa.
In the Great Lakes Region, Kiswahili is fast becoming a necessity for most jobs.
The Government made Kiswahili a required subject in primary schools in 1992.
The Government of Uganda declared Kiswahili an official language in 2005.
Kiswahili comes from Bantu and Arabic meaning boundary or boarder zone of Sahara and that is what makes it the unifying language of Africa.
In many institutions in Uganda, Kiswahili is the language used to communicate to the majority of the rank and file, despite the strong government effort in the 1960s to popularise Luganda as a second official language. Languages evolve together with cultures and as people become more homogeneous, it is only best to positively and practically aid that evolution through correct policies and not wishes and sentiments.
The government is on track in promoting, Kiswahili given the regional dynamics and global trends; and those who do not want to take up the language will only have themselves to blame when they miss out on more opportunities in the formal and informal sectors regionally and worldwide.
Anybody who has travelled to different parts of Uganda or the neighbouring countries on any boarder (Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo, Sudan should know the importance of communication and Kiswahili is a more acceptable and spoken language by the majority of the people, of course the Baganda and a few Bantu speakers will speak Luganda, but most times, both Kiswahili and Luganda.
Beyond these boarders, communication even becomes more critical and Luganda fades. South (Latin) and Central America, a continent almost the size of Africa, but with a far bigger population, has two major languages: Portuguese and Spanish; many people speak both. North America (USA and Canada) speak one major language; English. The Middle East and most of North Africans speak one major language, Arabic.
So, there is every value in promoting Kiswahili for the formal (employment and jobs) and informal sector (business, trade and recreation) as examples above demonstrate. That is not to say Luganda cannot be promoted alongside Kiswahili as well as Lugwe and Lusamia, among other languages. But at the same time, there is no need to burden citizens with a multiplicity of languages for service delivery and national as well as regional functions.
Interpretation (which becomes inevitable when a multiplicity of languages are used), is expensive, taxing, cumbersome and many times distorts the message. The debate is un-necessary and we should save the rest of Ugandans and the international community the emotions and hysteria.
Countries (and communities) with a major language spoken and understood by the majority of the population that ultimately becomes a uniting factor, have enjoyed quick economic growth and stable governance. Such a language also allows for higher literacy levels, efficiency is service delivery and effective checks and balances on the excesses of power abuse.
The writer is the executive director of the Uganda Wildfile Authority
FOR a long time, there has been a debate on what Uganda’s lingua franca should be. The argument has always been between Luganda and Kiswahili. The protagonists on either side are always passionate if not sentimental and sometimes hysterical on the subject.
Without trying to go either side of the debate, I wish to share some facts about the Kiswahili, which I “dug up†after reading a one-sided article about the beauty of Luganda as a national language in the
Paradoxically, I was on my way to Rwanda to help conduct interviews for a regional conservation office we were establishing in Kigali and one of the requirements was ability to communicate in the Kiswahili. We did get some good candidates who could speak it reasonably well, but Luganda did not feature anywhere as an added advantage.
I remembered that earlier, I had a similar experience where Kiswahili was a must speak when I was invited twice as a panelist to interview candidates in Nairobi, Kenya for regional jobs and once in Arusha, Tanzania.
I also happen to sit on a few boards and committees in African and often times, we have had to use Kiswahili when communicating with each other in our free time, to get a point home or during a consultative period to agree on a position.
While travelling outside Africa, Kiswahili is generally known as the major African language. And many Whites will attempt to say ‘Jambo’ when you say you are from Africa.
So I decided to search for more information about the language and I was surprised by what I found out in the Wikepedia. Here are the facts:
In many institutions in Uganda, Kiswahili is the language used to communicate to the majority of the rank and file, despite the strong government effort in the 1960s to popularise Luganda as a second official language. Languages evolve together with cultures and as people become more homogeneous, it is only best to positively and practically aid that evolution through correct policies and not wishes and sentiments.
The government is on track in promoting, Kiswahili given the regional dynamics and global trends; and those who do not want to take up the language will only have themselves to blame when they miss out on more opportunities in the formal and informal sectors regionally and worldwide.
Anybody who has travelled to different parts of Uganda or the neighbouring countries on any boarder (Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo, Sudan should know the importance of communication and Kiswahili is a more acceptable and spoken language by the majority of the people, of course the Baganda and a few Bantu speakers will speak Luganda, but most times, both Kiswahili and Luganda.
Beyond these boarders, communication even becomes more critical and Luganda fades. South (Latin) and Central America, a continent almost the size of Africa, but with a far bigger population, has two major languages: Portuguese and Spanish; many people speak both. North America (USA and Canada) speak one major language; English. The Middle East and most of North Africans speak one major language, Arabic.
So, there is every value in promoting Kiswahili for the formal (employment and jobs) and informal sector (business, trade and recreation) as examples above demonstrate. That is not to say Luganda cannot be promoted alongside Kiswahili as well as Lugwe and Lusamia, among other languages. But at the same time, there is no need to burden citizens with a multiplicity of languages for service delivery and national as well as regional functions.
Interpretation (which becomes inevitable when a multiplicity of languages are used), is expensive, taxing, cumbersome and many times distorts the message. The debate is un-necessary and we should save the rest of Ugandans and the international community the emotions and hysteria.
Countries (and communities) with a major language spoken and understood by the majority of the population that ultimately becomes a uniting factor, have enjoyed quick economic growth and stable governance. Such a language also allows for higher literacy levels, efficiency is service delivery and effective checks and balances on the excesses of power abuse.
The writer is the executive director of the Uganda Wildfile Authority