By Judith Gicobi
Uganda has ratified an East African Community (EAC) resolution designating English and Kiswahili as the bloc’s official languages.
On Tuesday, the nation’s Cabinet agreed to carry out the directive of the 21st EAC Summit and suggested that Kiswahili be considered a required subject in both primary and secondary schools in the nation.
The leaders of the community decided to make English, French, and Kiswahili the community’s official languages during the 21st summit, which was held electronically in February of last year. They also instructed the council to speed up the directive’s implementation procedures.
Despite being designated as the second official language in the 1995 Ugandan Constitution, Kiswahili has not been used.
The UN has declared July 7 to be World Kiswahili Language Day, which coincides with the language’s continued global growth in popularity. The dialect is one of the official ones used by the African Union (AU).
Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, and the Comoros are among the countries in Africa where Kiswahili is commonly spoken.
Additionally, Yemen and Oman have both adopted the language.