Africa-Press – Rwanda. The East African Community (EAC) has agreed that Kiswahili and French will be soon added as official languages of the community after English. Speaking at the 18th Extra-ordinary meetings of the Heads of the States, Peter Mathiuki, the current Secretary-General of the East African Community, told the gathering of the Heads of States that the move to make the two languages as official languages of the community are under way.
He said the Council of Ministers directed the Secretariat to mobilize resources implement it. “A proposal of simultaneous resolution is due by the next council,” the Secretariat disclosed during the virtual summit. Since 2019, there have been community advances that seek to make Swahili and French official languages.
The Tanzanian agency, National Kiswahili Council and National Kiswahili Associations are among these, where they are advocating the Partner States for amendment of Article 137 of the EAC Treaty to include Kiswahili as one of the official languages of the Community.
Kiswahili is regarded as a strategic resource for communication and a unifying factor that would catalyze development in the region. Kiswahili is also considered a lingua franca that can help EAC as a catalyst to achieving AU’s Agenda 2063.
Kiswahili is a national language in countries like Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda as well as it is for French language in Rwanda and Burundi. If DRC is allowed in the block, it will be the third French-speaking country after Rwanda and Burundi.
French speakers in the region have also been recommending the addition of French as official language particularly, the Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of the States that gathered in March considered a report on the status implementation of its directive to undertake a study on the modalities of including French as a language of the Community.
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