KISWAHILI IN UGANDA’S MEDIA HOUSES AND THE NEED FOR NATIONAL KISWAHILI COUNCIL

Mass media performs a vital and a crucial role in society. They are called the Fourth Estate, as they are one of the pillars of democracy along with the executive, legislature, and the other socio-economic forces that bind a society together. In this context, it is important to note that they are both the watchdogs of public behavior of elected officials and custodians of popular goodwill as they seek to report on the goings-on in society.

Mass media holds accountable leaders in government, business, the clergy, and individuals of all walks of life. The media houses have become the watchdogs of the society holding actors accountable for what they say and do.

Mass media is also a source of entertainment for a lot of its audiences. On this note, mass media is relevant to the society and so without it, we would never know what is happening in the world around us and be without the moral compass and ethical conscience needed to hold society together.

It’s on this note that, Kiswahili is a language trending in East Africa and Africa at large. We upload our proposal for the need to educate, entertain and transform Uganda through accepting Kiswahili language as part of Media and the community at large.

The promotion of Kiswahili is one of the main goals of the policies of the East African Community. However, only a limited amount of research has been conducted on the perception and application of the language outside of the traditionally Kiswahili-speaking countries of Tanzania and Kenya. Especially in Uganda, the third largest country of the region, there is a lack of understanding for the role of the language in public communication.

In light of the strengthening of the East African Community as a political and economic union and the ongoing process of East African Integration, Kiswahili has, over the last years, become a focal point in educational policies all across the region. Used as the community’s second common language behind English, its promotion is a key part of the attempt to bring the people of the region together and harmonize business practices across the national borders.

Since 2005, following an amendment to the Ugandan constitution, Kiswahili is the country’s second official language (The Republic of Uganda 2006). With this amendment, it followed its eastern and southern neighbors, Kenya and Tanzania, in recognizing the importance of the language as a lingua franca amongst an extremely diverse cultural and lingual context.

However, to many this is far from the effort required to establish the language in the linguistic practices of Ugandans. (Kawoja & Makokha 2009), for instance, demanded that, beyond the creation of the East Africa Kiswahili Council, there is a need for the installation of regional institutions tasked with the promotion of Kiswahili in East Africa; especially in the media sector.

Others like Mukhuturia (2006) viewed the business sphere as the key to strengthening the role of Kiswahili; suggesting that multi-national corporations, which operate across the borders of the East African Community, should adopt the language for improved communication. Probably the greatest attention is directed towards the educational sector, where Kiswahili is to receive a more prominent role.

Mukuthuria (2006) writes that “there is no doubt that the Kiswahili language will witness rapid development in Uganda this century unlike in the last three centuries”, and further elaborates that the “time has come for Ugandans to overstep tribal polemics in search of higher morals in order to forge ahead with national development issues. It is with this ray of hope that Kiswahili growth and development in this country banks its future to enhance its roles in Uganda”

One of the main talking points when discussing Kiswahili in Uganda is its complex relationship with the language Luganda. Coined as the “Luganda-Swahili controversy” by Pawliková-Vilhanová (1996), the issue dates back to the introduction of Kiswahili during the colonial period.

At the time, the leaders of the Buganda ethnic group, who had positioned themselves prominently within the colonial apparatus, were fighting for Luganda to become the language for interethnic communication outside the British administration. This was a struggle against the introduction and implementation of Kiswahili, which held position in the other East African colonies of the British Empire.

In the end, at the beginning of the 20th century, the colonial administration decided that Kiswahili would nonetheless attain the official status; in part to avoid possible conflicts based on promoting just one of the many minority languages in the country.

Kiswahili was especially important for interethnic communication in the military, where it had already been used by the British colonial army in Kenya and Tanzania. The legacy of this military use can still be seen today as the policy was continued following the independence of Uganda.

However, the knowledge and literature regarding the role that Kiswahili has played outside of the military remains very limited.

This problematic issue, already recognized by Mazrui & Mazrui (1993) but not fully materialized until recently due to the ongoing internal conflicts of the 1990s and early 2000s, has become highly topical:

Kiswahili in the media Houses

As previously mentioned, the media is understood by many to be a key part of the promotion of Kiswahili use within the region.

In the Ugandan media landscape, Kiswahili is mostly used in broadcasting, for instance in news programs on UBC TV Habari by Edwin Nyanchwara currently; the national broadcasting service headed by the Ugandan Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. There are also several radio stations that broadcast in Kiswahili across the country such as Radio Nyumbani in Kamwenge, BBC Swahili, and some other local radios in Kasese and parts of Eastern Uganda.

Furthermore, Kiswahili has a long tradition of being used in Ugandan music, with the popular musician, Jose Chameleone, being the most prominent example, David Lutalo in some of his songs, Bobi wine and some few others who mix few Kiswahili phrases in their songs.

Questions arise, “What role does Kiswahili currently play in the Ugandan media landscape?”, the focus remained on traditional types of media; broadly understood as non-digital forms of information and entertainment.

Compared to the languages which are considered the most important in the media, Kiswahili is the least frequently used in Uganda.

I took a concern to ask several people through different social media pages about the place Kiswahili takes in Uganda’s media houses, some responses witnessed the need to attain Kiswahili in Uganda’s media houses for it’s quick development.

Over the past years, several channels have increasingly included programming using Luganda; for the news, interviews, political discussions and even some TV series, Kiswahili as second language is only seen on UBC TV HABARI. It’s alarming and putting Uganda’s policies on a doubt. Gugudde Tv had started embracing Kiswahili talks but as a matter of fact, a business entity realized no profits and pulled off. This calls for the government to extensively implement and put measures on how to improve Kiswahili speaking in Uganda via media houses.

Following the analysis of the study, it seems that the biggest challenge facing the improvement of Kiswahili’s status in Uganda is mainly rooted in its lack of relevance in everyday communication. The citizens demonstrate positive attitudes towards Kiswahili in general and as an official language of Uganda but find only limited use for it.

Even though a considerable number of the citizens have some form of competence in Kiswahili, their self-assessed proficiency is remarkably low. It can be hypothesized that increased efforts to implement Kiswahili in the school curricula and media could lead to improved levels of proficiency, but it can equally be assumed that the lack of elevance will remain a hindrance to these efforts.

The increased importance of English competence (due to overall efforts to improving literacy in English) could lessen the individual’s interest in acquiring adequate proficiency in a language that is not considered vital to one’s ability to succeed in their environment. It appears that especially in contexts where a lingua franca is expected to be most commonly used, in public spaces like markets, small businesses or the church, Kiswahili was barely present. Instead, in cases where the local languages are not sufficient, English is usually the language of choice.

The cases where Kiswahili is used usually include people who originate from outside Uganda and have not received extended formal education, for instance people coming from the DRC or soldiers stationed in or around country. However, such cases remain rather uncommon.

It was noted that, the local parish of the Catholic Church establishes a service on Sundays which was either be held in Kiswahili or have a translator present in a bid to promote the language.

Two reasons for that were that the number of potential attendees within the large Catholic community was not significant enough to justify the inception of a service specifically targeting people who could neither speak Acholi nor English, and the lack of potential translators who had sufficient skills in Kiswahili and either of the languages (Acholi and English) spoken by the priests of the parish.

Northern Uganda is certainly one of the more interesting regions in the ongoing discussion of the role of Kiswahili in Uganda. Due to the historically high number of people from Northern Uganda in the military, including people from the Acholi region, the language was rather widespread. As the families of soldiers lived on military compounds, the language policy of the military equally affected the extended family members, who would use Kiswahili in the interethnic communication of these generally multiethnic and multilingual places. When Idi Amin declared Kiswahili to be the country’s national language in 1973, it was mainly those from Northern Uganda who supported this decision (Mazrui & Mazrui 1995)

THE NEED TO IMPLEMENT UGANDA NATIONAL KISWAHILI COUNCIL PLAN

The approval for the establishment of the National Kiswahili Council exhibits Government’s commitment to the regional integration process. To be specific, Article 137(2) of the Treaty for the establishment of the East African Community (EAC) states that, Kiswahili shall be developed as lingua franca of the community.

Uganda has an obligation and commitment to establish a National Kiswahili Council since it is a signatory to the Protocol on the Establishment of the East African Kiswahili Commission. The protocol places commitment and obligation for each of the partner states, to establish a National Kiswahili Council as the
main channel for participation and promotion of the activities of the Commission.

Furthermore, under the protocol on establishment of the Kiswahili
Commission (EAC, 2008) it is also a requirement under article 10 for
States Parties to establish the National Kiswahili Councils (Balaza la Kiswahili
taifa).

But you will also note that Article 6 (2) of the Constitution of Uganda
provides that “Swahili shall be the second official language in Uganda to be used in such circumstances as Parliament may by law prescribe”. The establishment of the National Kiswahili Council shall
operationalize this article.

Uganda’s Vision 2040 and the National Development Plan II,
acknowledge that Uganda lacks a shared culture and national value
system. This has created divergence in perception, mindsets and attitudes, which affects the social transformation process of the Country. The establishment of the Uganda National Kiswahili Council (Baraza za Kiswahili Taifa Uganda) will promote Kiswahili as one of the core values that will strengthen a shared language in the country and hence promote a shared culture.

There are several benefits that will accrue from the establishment of the Uganda National Kiswahili Council;

The growth opportunities in the emerging EAC market present compelling reasons to re-emphasize Kiswahili as we steadily move towards the four integration pillars of
Custom Union, Common Market, Monetary Union and Political
Federation.

The EAC Partner States have a shared historical, cultural and linguistic heritage. Partner States are keen on bringing about regional integration in East Africa through regional educational, scientific, technological, social, economic, cultural and linguistic ties for mutual benefit and development.

However, it is important to note that the establishment of the
Kiswahili Council will not and is not intended to replace and
substitute other local languages of national heritage like some tribes claim but rather to harness benefits of greater wider integration, mutual and reciprocal
benefits under the common market protocol, free movement of Labour and tapping into wider business opportunities and employment.

The main functions of the Uganda National Kiswahili Council will be:

To advocate, popularize and promote the development and usage of Kiswahili at all levels throughout Uganda.

To encourage the use of Kiswahili in the conduct of official and public life.

To encourage the achievement of high standards in the use of Kiswahili.

To provide advice and services to Government, public authorities and individual Kiswahili writers and authors with the aim of furthering of the use and development of Kiswahili.

To regularly carry out research, document and publish Kiswahili papers or magazines for the purpose of promoting the usage and development of the language and its literature.

To work with relevant institutions to carry out periodic reviews and
approve the Kiswahili curriculum and literature intended for use in
schools and the public.

To develop and publish suitable journalistic, periodical, educational, creative and scholarly Kiswahili materials.

To cooperate with the authorities concerned in establishing standard Kiswahili technical terms.

Hold annual general meetings of representatives from the lower
Kiswahili Councils for the purpose of reviewing the Councils performance and also to plan for the subsequent year.

To support institutions to mainstream Kiswahili into work plans and budgets.

To monitor Governments compliance with National and the EAC Treaty and EAC Kiswahili Commission Protocol.

To publish and submit annual reports to the Minister responsible for culture.

To carry out or commission research on any matters or incidents related to Kiswahili usage.

To cooperate and coordinate with other bodies in Uganda, East Africa and elsewhere in the world concerned with the promotion and development of Kiswahili

With all these being implemented, Kiswahili will be at it’s peek of development in Uganda without any hesitation.