The African Union (AU) has approved Kiswahili as the official working language in Africa following the request of Tanzania’s Vice President Philip Isdor Mpango. The approval was on the premise that Kiswahili is the most spoken language by over 100 million.
“Kiswahili is already in use in various communities including the East African Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as well as a teaching language in many African countries,” said Mpango.
Countries in Africa that speak Kiswahili are Tanzania which is the leading country, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Comoros, and as far as Oman and Yemen in the Middle East.
Other countries like South Africa and Botswana have introduced Kiswahili lessons in their education system while there are other countries like Namibia who are considering doing so.
On November 23, UNESCO, set aside the 7th of July as the day the world will be celebrating and appreciating Kiswahili making the language the first dialect in Africa to be recognized by UNESCO.
“The UN has set aside a day to fete Kiswahili. The language will be celebrated on July 7 every year. The decision has been passed by all members of UNESCO without any objection,” UNESCO said on Twitter on Tuesday.
By Natasha Ntheya