Last Updated on: 13th April 2023, 09:20 pm
Kampala, April 13, 2023: In July 2022, the Cabinet approved the adoption of Kiswahili as the second national language. Currently, English is the country’s official language.
With the East African Integration seen to be a joint force to solve the region’s economic and political challenges, member states believe having a shared language will be vital in achieving the dream.
Addressing parliament in September 2022, the Minister of East African Community Affairs Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga said her ministry was working with the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development to establish the National Kiswahili Council.
Kadaga said the Council will champion Kiswahili development initiatives at a national level.
“I wish to inform you that they have prepared a cabinet paper on this matter and it guided that an organizational structure of the National Kiswahili Council and its attendant cost implications be developed for consideration by cabinet before its approval,” said Kadaga, as quoted by the parliamentary website.
On Thursday, April 13, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja told a parliamentary sitting that the government will table the Uganda National Swahili Council Bill, 2023 next week.
To make this effective, Uganda’s Cabinet will soon start taking Kiswahili lessons before it is rolled countrywide. The cost of the lessons is expected to be “huge”.
Uganda’s neighbors Kenya and Tanzania use Kiswahili as their first national languages. It is also widely spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Read more here.
Also read: Museveni’s regional tour: NRM accused of sidelining local service providers