Kenya: New Constitution Provides for Kiswahili as the Second Official Language After English

By Eric Sande

As Kenya ushers in the Second Republic, the country now has two official languages, namely English and Kiswahili. This is provided for in the new Constitution that was promulgated by President Mwai Kibaki on August 27.

Kiswahili has since time immemorial been Kenya’s national language with English being the only official language. It is the most widely spoken African language in Kenya, accounting for about 70 per cent of the speakers. People use Kiswahili to communicate in offices while the President sometimes uses Kiswahili to address the nation, mostly off the cuff.

The new Constitution under Chapter two section 7 (2) declares Kiswahili an official language of the Republic together with English. (1) It retains its previous status as a national language.

What this means is that a person who visits a public office can choose to be addressed in Kiswahili. Before the new constitutional dispensation, litigants faced a number of barriers, with judges who are mostly competent in Kiswahili, insisting that evidence adduced in that language be translated into English by court clerks. This has often resulted in the delay of cases.

Kiswahili suffered a major setback when former Attorney General Charles Njonjo on July 25, 1969 objected to its introduction as an official language. He argued that Kiswahili has its origins in the Arabic language and if all foreign languages were to be done away with, it should be on the list.

Still, the language is rich and unique in its own way and is used in the press, radio and television in East Africa. The Nation Media Group, the leading media house in East and Central Africa for instance, publishes Taifa Leo, a Kenyan local Kiswahili daily.

The Chama cha Kiswahili cha Kitaifa, a registered political party, has for years been pushing to have Kiswahili as an official language. Universities have lectured Kiswahili as a language and created many elites who find their way to build a database of new jargons in various fields.

Google on the other hand has employed experts in the Kiswahili, with an aim of adopting the language in their search engines and language interpretations.

Swahili (or Kiswahili) is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Indian Ocean coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoros Islands. Although only 5–10 million people speak it as their native language, Swahili is a national or official language, of four nations, namely Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Within the Congo, as in much of East Africa, it often acts as a lingua franca. It is the only language historically African in origin among the official working languages of the African Union.

In Uganda, Kiswahili is the second most spoken African language after Luganda, and it is estimated that it is spoken by about 35-40 per cent of Ugandans of different tribes. It is used on the radio, very little in the press, and not at all on television. It is taught as a subject in primary and secondary schools.

President Mwai Kibaki lauded the unificatory role of Kiswahili, citing that it played a very important role in the unification of different ethnic groups in the hard struggle for independence.

Officials in the Ministry of Culture regard Kiswahili as neutral and useful. It is the official language of the security forces, and certainly there are more people who can communicate in Kiswahili than in English. Most of the people in markets, shops, restaurants and taxis in Kenya communicate in Kiswahili.

While some people see Kiswahili as an African pride, others see English as the language of highly schooled proud people.

It is estimated that about 750,000 people in Rwanda speak Kiswahili. Rwanda is bordered by Zaire in the West, and Tanzania in the East, hence the need for people to know the language.In Burundi, Kiswahili is spoken by over 10 per cent of the population, with about 90 per cent of the school children in Bujumbura and 40 per cent of the adults being able to speak it.  Apart from Kiswahili, other languages spoken in Burundi include French and Kirundi.