Govt instructs Uganda Airlines to use Kiswahili
First Deputy Prime Minister and Minster for East African Community Affairs, Ms Rebecca Kadaga.
What you need to know:
- This was revealed by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minster for East African Community (EAC) Affairs, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, during a press briefing at the ministry’s offices in Kampala yesterday.
Uganda Airlines has been instructed to adopt Kiswahili as one of the languages used by the flight crew to communicate with passengers.
This was revealed by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minster for East African Community (EAC) Affairs, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, during a press briefing at the ministry’s offices in Kampala yesterday.
“We have agreed that Uganda Airlines will now be required to speak to people in Kiswahili. They have been speaking to people in English and sometimes Luganda but now they will be required to greet and welcome passengers in Kiswahili and English,” Ms Kadaga said.
In an interview with the Monitor yesterday, the Uganda Airlines public relations manager, Ms Shakira Rahim, said: “If this is assented to then we shall adhere to it. Kiswahili is widely spoken in the region so the airline will adopt and have it spoken on board.”
On July 4, Cabinet approved the implementation of the 21st EAC summit directive to adopt Kiswahili as a language of the community.
The Cabinet directed the compulsory teaching of the language in all primary and secondary schools. Teaching of the language will commence in 2023.
The national carrier flies to more than 15 destinations including Tanzania and Zanzibar which use Kiswahili.
Ms Kadaga said all Cabinet ministers will be required to learn the language.
“We have agreed that every Monday for the first one hour, that is 9- 10am, we shall take lessons in Kiswahili and then from 10am, we shall conduct our work in the usual way until we are very proficient in the language,” she said.
She added: “Makerere University is going to help us train the Cabinet, organise the online classes so that anybody can take the lessons.”
The head of the directorate of African languages at Makerere University, Mr Gumoshabe Gilbert, said lessons will commence on July 11.
Regarding the method of delivery that will be used, Mr Gumoshabe said it will most likely be blended [online and physical] given that Cabinet ministers have meetings every Monday morning.
Background
In February 2021, during the 21st EAC summit in Arusha, it was recommended that Uganda adopts Kiswahili as an official language of the community.
The implementation of the directive was approved by President Museveni on July 4 during a Cabinet meeting at State House Entebbe.
Kiswahili, which is spoken in more than 14 countries, was adopted as the official language of the EAC in 2017. It was then adopted by the African Union in February as an official working language.
In 2021, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) designated July 7 as the World Kiswahili Day after it was recognised as a widely spoken African language.
Uganda becomes the fifth East African country to officialise Swahili following Rwanda in 2017, Kenya in 2010, Tanzania in 1964 and Burundi made it compulsory in 2007.
