Citizen TV’s Swahili news, Anchor Mashirima Kapombe, spared two minutes of her broadcast time on Friday, November 4, to sing her heart out to Members of Parliament.
Mashirima’s poetic song rallied MPs to take action and enact laws that would establish Kenya Kiswahili Language Board.
In a seemingly emotional plea, Mashirima narrated the importance of the Kenya Kiswahili Language Board not only to students but also to East Africans.
“MPs started enacting laws that were meant to establish Kenya Kiswahili Language Board, but years later, nothing has happened,” Mashirima lamented in her poetic song.
She, therefore, called on those responsible to ensure a favourable environment is set for Swahili's growth in the East African Community.
Around 200 million people speak Swahili as a native language.
The language has largely been adopted either as a national or official language in the East African Community nations of Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and DR Congo.
It is also dominant or taught in the African Great Lakes region and East and Southern Africa, including Malawi, Mozambique, the southern tip of Somalia, Zambia, and even in far South Africa.
Across the border, hundreds of Swahili speakers from across Africa gather in Zanzibar every year to celebrate World Kiswahili Language Day.
The occasion brings together Kiswahili language practitioners worldwide, including teachers, students and journalists.
East African Kiswahili Commission, an institution under the auspices of the East African Community (East African Community), organises and manages the event.
In Kenya, the National Steering Committee of the World Kiswahili Language hosted a workshop, in July 2022 at KICC, to create awareness of Swahili being the first officially recognized African Language by UNESCO.
