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Three Ministries fight for mandate over promotion of Swahili Language
Minister Muyingo
The Ministry of Education has recommended withdrawing the Uganda National Kiswahili Council Bill 2023, citing several loopholes that they say need to be addressed before it becomes law.
The Ministry highlighted that while teaching Kiswahili is important for Uganda, relevant stakeholders, including the Education Ministry, were not consulted, leaving out crucial issues.
John Chrysestom Muyingo, the State Minister for Higher Education urged the Ministry of Gender, the bill’s sponsor, to consult all stakeholders to achieve a unified stance on the language.
The Director of Basic and Secondary Education at the Ministry of Education, Ismail Mulindwa, warned that the bill lacks a policy backing, raising concerns about its enforceability.
“The ministry does not have information on record showing the level of consultation, if any, that were undertaken during the formative stages. Lack of an enforcement mechanism for the objects of the bill. The bill does not provide for offence and the corresponding sanctions and other enforcement provisions to ensure compliances with the initiatives and actions by government aimed at promoting Swahili in Uganda. The bill, therefore, should be withdrawn to allow proper analysis and political engagement of all stakeholders on how to promote Swahili language”-Mulindwa.
Lawmakers led by Committee Chairperson MP Margaret Kunihira, expressed frustration over the lack of coordination among the different government ministries and emphasized the need for a harmonized approach.
Frank Kabuye, the Kassanda South MP explained that it seems the government was not ready by the time they came out to present the bill.
“And if the Ministry of Education comes out to claim its responsibility and they want Kiswahili language in their docket, you may stand with them, But also, Gender (Ministry) has away to claim it because it is in culture and languages which fall under ministry of gender,
“And the other aspect, you can also look at the ministry of East African affairs because they are trying to rectify what they signed in the East African treaties in East African countries. So, you find that these collisions have made the bill stand still in committees where we are processing it. We want these ministers to go back and sit and reflect on what we intend to solve,” Kabuye noted.
Professor Peter Baguma from Makerere University who is also the chairman of Star Swahili a private Company that teaches Swahili, the Ministry of Education is the most suitable government department to teach the language, since training and education services are under its ambit.
On the part of Ministry of ICT, the line minister Godfrey Kabyanga says that focus should not necessarily be on the finances to enforce the law.
Kabyanga says that considering the advantages associated with promotion of speaking of Kiswahili language the different government ministries should be flexible to the extent of using the available resources to popularize Swahili language.
He says at the inception, the communication units of the ICT ministry and that of Gender can contribute towards implementation of the proposed law much as a fund would be created later.
“But for us, as ministry of ICT, we are saying let us not look at the funding now, let us process the bill, because even in our ministry we have channels through which we can teach Swahili for instance, we have 1 hour of free broadcasting per media operator, but can’t we set it aside for the teachers of Swahili to train people in Swahili on TV, on radios? we need to popularize it,” said Kabbyanga.
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