Just to apprise you about it. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) designated July 7 to be the World Kiswahili Language Day.
On the debate about the state of Kiswahili, I take a mental flight to a pow-wow I attended in the recent past. A certain sage surged to the stage and said in jest that the conception of Kiswahili occurred in Zanzibar. It was born in Tanzania. It grew up in Kenya. Sadly, it died in Uganda. Then, the burial took place in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Of course, the joke tickled the audience. Most delegates broke into gales of laughter.
Being that the conference was a confluence of people from Kenya, they chose to laugh at the sorry state of Kiswahili in Uganda and DRC. Yet, this was equivalent to the proverbial story of dwarfs laughing at each other because of their short stature.
Scholars of Isimu Jamii (Socio-linguistics) contend that Kiswahili is the lingua franca of East Africa, just as English is that of Commonwealth countries. Ostensibly, Kiswahili is an adult in Tanzania, but in Kenya, it is still throwing some adolescent tantrums. The solution is to celebrate its scholars, thinkers and users. We should also glorify its slogan Kiswahili Kitukuzwe. Not Kiswahili Kifukuzwe.
Then, to some reasonable extent, emergence of sheng slang blights the glitter and glory of Kiswahili language in Kenya and beyond. Plenty of learners in our schools break the language policy. Instead of speaking either English or Kiswahili, they prefer to express themselves in sheng also known as shembeteng. No wonder, most of them find it difficult to evince excellence in languages – English and Kiswahili. Just to be blunt about it: Grammatical goofs soil their expressions due to paucity of perfect practice.
In actual sense, most of our language policies in schools focus more on English. There are schools in this country that when you visit, right at the gate, you will bump on conspicuous write-ups such as: This is an English Speaking Zone. Or you meet and greet statements like: Speak English. The silent scribe, the late Prof Ken Walibora Waliaula, warned us that such biased writings consign Kiswahili to the museums of forgotten history. There is also this policy in many schools directing students to speak English from Monday to Thursday. Then, Kiswahili on Friday. Allotting English a lot of days is not bad because it is the language of instruction in several subjects. My only worry is this; do we pay homage to the policy? Do such schools adhere to Kiswahili on that Friday?
Again, the way I see it in secondary schools, teachers who pursue Kiswahili as a teaching subject should specialise only in Kiswahili plus Fasihi. The way some of us specialised only in English and Literature. This notion of teachers of Kiswahili specialising in additional subjects like Geography, Religion or History and Government complicate it.
Ideally, we expect teachers of a language like Kiswahili to express themselves eloquently in it while interacting with students even beyond the four walls of the classroom. This begs the question: do we see it happening? Then, there is this question: How do we expect Kiswahili to grow and glow, when we do not honour some scholars in that sphere.
Consequently, we can also blame our mainstream media. When it comes to reading of news during prime time – 9 O’clock – when people have settled in their houses after work, in all leading media houses, they anchor news in English language. Kiswahili takes 7:00 pm, the time people are still escorting the sun to sunset.
Moreover, most of our newspapers are in English – Daily Nation, The Standard, The Star, People Daily, The Nairobian, Education News, The East African, The TVET Star, inter alia. Conversely, we have only one paper written in Kiswahili, and to add insult to injury, it is thin like a pin. The other problem that impedes the speed, progress and success of Kiswahili is that we have scarcity of self-help books written in it. We also have few orators and rhetors in Kiswahili.
Therefore, we should get rid of this attitude of finitude. Let us not forget that Kiswahili is one of our indigenous languages. Its provenance dates back to the intimate intercourse of languages spoken at the coastal strip of East Africa. If it is indigenous, then it means that it enshrines our culture, literature and orature. As a scribe, I see language and culture as close cognates. Meaning, whoever severs links with culture is a slave. Our great novelist, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o warned us; Knowing your language and a foreign one is empowerment, but knowing a foreign language and failing to know your own language is enslavement.
Lastly, Kiswahili can entice bountiful benefits. We can work and engage in business with ease in various parts of East Africa. Proliferation of Kiswahili in Africa and beyond will enhance regional integration and trade. Kiswahili is one of the official languages in the African Union. In the recent past, South Africa just like Uganda, adopted Kiswahili as part of their curriculum. This means some of our Kiswahili teachers will secure teaching opportunities across the borders. More so, when they choose to see beyond the sea.
© Victor Ochieng’
The writer is an editor, author and peripatetic speaker. vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
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