President Museveni Champions Swahili as Key to African Unity
By The Public Lens
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has urged Africans to leverage similarities to promote Swahili.
Speaking at Kyambogo University’s inaugural Kiswahili graduation, President Museveni emphasized integrating vocabularies from tribal languages.
“And we can now use it as a core to build a very powerful international language by putting in more words from the tribes and the languages here in the hinterland because the tribal languages here have got a lot of vocabularies,” President Museveni said.
He also introduced words like Emyooga, meaning skills such as carpentry, pottery and tailoring.
President Museveni congratulated 304 graduates, encouraging perfection of language skills.
“What you have done is a very good thing, and I thank the people who brought that idea, the NRM Secretary General Richard Todwong and Rt Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, for pushing this. Definitely, we are going to push the program further,” H.E. Museveni assured.
Swahili facilitates East African communication and economic integration.
President Museveni described Swahili as neutral, non-ethnic and uniting, originating at East Africa’s coast for business. “The language belongs to no single tribe.”
First Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga appreciated President Museveni’s support.
“When I went to parliament to report that the cabinet had decided that we start teaching Kiswahili in Uganda, there was a mistaken view that we were going to stop Ugandans from speaking their languages and take on Swahili. But today, this activity has described that these people are speaking their languages, English and Swahili, and they will soon learn French,” Rt. Hon. Kadaga said.
Kadaga thanked Kyambogo University and UMCAT School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
NRM Secretary General Richard Todwong explained the program’s genesis.
“I have received phone calls from colleagues in the region, and they’re congratulating Uganda for running this program.”
Todwong called for support due to high demand saying, “There’s a lot of demand in the country for Kiswahili lessons. One of the reasons is that our citizens are finding challenges when they look for jobs in the region. Some of them are failing to get these jobs because they lack the Kiswahili language.”
Vice Chancellor Prof. Elly Katunguka thanked President Museveni for university support and requested aid for a boundary wall.
National Coordinator Stephen Bwire outlined plans and said, “The idea behind this is that in the next 10 years, we want at least 50% of the population in Uganda to be speaking Swahili.”
UMCAT School founder Charles Ogwel praised President Museveni’s integration efforts. “Your Excellency, you have pushed this agenda for several years, and indeed your aspirations have come true.”
Ogwel emphasized Kiswahili’s significance. “Now as a nation we can say we have a national language that every Ugandan should speak.”
Chief Instructor Rodgers Ndawula thanked President Museveni for endorsing Kiswahili.
Swahili boasts 200 million speakers across East Africa.
President Museveni contributed Shs100 million to graduates’ SACCO.
The program’s success stems from collaboration between Kyambogo University and UMCAT School.
The Kiswahili course empowers Ugandans for regional job opportunities.
President Museveni’s vision for African unity drives Kiswahili promotion.
Efforts will continue to strengthen East African ties.
The event brought together officials, national leaders and Kiswahili instructors.
Attendees celebrated the language’s potential for African economic integration.
