DODOMA: THE government is currently lobbying countries with embassies in Tanzania to establish Kiswahili desks, in efforts to popularise the language which is now spoken almost everywhere worldwide.
Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Cosato Chumi made the revelation in the august House on Friday when responding to a supplementary question posed by Special Seats lawmaker, Husna Sekiboko (CCM).
During her question, the Member of Parliament (MP) had reminded the government of the resolution passed by parliament some years back that all Tanzanian foreign embassies should have Kiswahili desks.
“Parliament passed a resolution to compel all embassies representing Tanzania in foreign countries to establish the Kiswahili desks so as to popularise our language, what is the government’s plan on implementing this resolution?’’ asked the MP.
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In response, the deputy minister said plans were ongoing to have Kiswahili desks in foreign embassies but was quick to point out that the government was equally convincing foreign countries with their embassies in Tanzania to equally do the same so as to complement the country’s agenda to have the language used in all parts of the world.
During the main question, Special Seats lawmaker, Hawa Mwaifunga had wanted to know why Kiswahili was not used in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) just as it is being used in the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), one of the organs of African Union (AU).
Responding, the deputy minister noted that the 39th summit of SADC Heads of State held in August 2019 in Dar es Salaam had adopted Kiswahili as its fourth official language.
Other SADC official languages are English, Portuguese and French. Kiswahili is already an official language in Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda and of the African Union (AU).
It’s also used in some parts of central and southern Africa. According to a summit communique, the leaders approved Kiswahili as the fourth SADC official working language, in recognition of the contribution of the Father of the Nation Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere’s role in the liberation struggle of southern Africa.
The Pan South African Language Board, which promotes multilingualism, said the inclusion of Kiswahili will help prevent the marginalisation of African languages “Because of that milestone, Kiswahili is currently being used by SADC during Heads of State summits and meetings of SADC ministers and efforts are being made to have the language used by meetings of Permanent Secretaries and as well as other bodies like the SADC Parliamentary Forum,’’ said Mr Chumi.
