Canisius Mushibwe
Foreign tongues have been displacing African languages in most aspects of life. Culturally, the education sector, culture and in many African homes today as the world becomes more and more homogeneous.
Africa’s integration is necessary to build the capacity and gravitas necessary to stand toe to toe with the west and the east and negotiate bilateral trade deals that have the best interests of its people.
It is with this in mind that lately, heads of states and leaders across the continent are sounding louder and louder in support of adopting the language as part of the curriculum in schools.
This growing interest for Africans to coalesce and make Swahili an official African language is because it’s spoken regionally – east and central- south of Africa.
Theodor Seuss Geisel, an American writer and film maker said it well – “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
A number of African leaders including President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda etc. have been advocating for the language to be taught in African schools as a first step towards uniting the continent under one language.
The recent summit in Kigali, Rwanda, President Paul Kagame requested his counterpart, Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of Tanzania for Kiswahili teachers as the country plans to deploy them all over the country.
Rwanda is laying the ground work to make the language compulsory in all schools and make it the official language of the east African nation.
