Revitalizing Kiswahili language use policy in Eastern Africa Community (EAC)

Abstract

The brief opines that there exists an opportunity for increased socio-economic development and advancement of strategic interests in Eastern Africa through increased adoption of Kiswahili language use policy and culture in the Africa continent. The over 100 million Kiswahili-speaking people in Africa have the potential to revitalize intra and inter-Africa regional trade. Yet only 30 % of African countries use Kiswahili as lingua franca. Therefore, there is a need for the EAC bloc to take advantage of its growing membership to promote the use of Kiswahili language as the continental lingua franca. The brief recommends the amendment of standing orders of conducting house business at the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) to make Kiswahili a working language of the assembly and the mobilization of resources to install language translation infrastructure in the chambers of the assembly.