Swahili, the official language of the East African Community is now the official working language for the African Union now. This new embarkment was after the Vice President of Tanzania; Philip Mpango, argued for the language to be made Africa’s official language, stating it is spoken by over a 100 million people in Africa.
Swahili also natively known as Kiswahili is spoken officially in countries like South Sudan, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Kenya. Swahili has now become Africa’s most Internationally locally recognized language. This language was also used by President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania to promote his country’s identity as a people, post Independence. Nigerian Playwright and Poet, Wole Soyinka in 1960 also pushed for Swahili to be used as Africa’s Language.
After Engish and French which carries a highher percentage of languages spoken within the African Anatomy, most Philosophers believe if Swahilihi is really formalized, the language will become a preferred Pan African Language which will also boost the speaking of more local languages like Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Twi and Bambala which has now been made as the official recognized and official speaking language in Mali, now to be patronized as their preferred speaking dialects.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation has also introduced a new Day to celebrate the Swahili language yearly, known as World Kiswahili Day on July 7th.
AFRICAN VOICES INTERNATIONAL, FREEDOM IN AFRICA
