Swahili - all Africa's [Pulp] Language...

Swahili – all Africa’s [Pulp] Language…
What an African King recently said


Sam Mwaka-karama
Ivory Coast - traditional King TCHIFFI ZIE Jean Gervais – recently in Kampala for the just ended African Union AU conference gave a little Press Briefing July 28, 2010 - at the Imperial Royale in Kampala. Addressing the press in his official capacity as the “Permanent Secretary General” of the “Forum of Kings, Sultans, Princes, Sheikhs, Paramount Chiefs and traditional leaders in Africa”, he spoke emphatically of need for An African continental language.

Among so many other issues the Ivorian traditional King spoke about was – the issue of a common continental African communicative language that can comfortably link the African people… a language that can very easily be formalized and as easily informally spread.
The wise Ivorian King thought that such a language is the Eastern African – Swahili language – and for that he had this to say…

“In regard to the question of a common language in Africa… we are studying the possibility of having Swahili formalized at all levels of Schools throughout the continent. We believe it is a language deep and broad enough to be a continental language – it is evident – that African peoples from Western, Central, Southern and Northern parts of the continent – who have travelled to and interacted commonly with East Africans (origin of Swahili), via exposure have within relatively very short periods informally learnt Swahili – that should convince us all that Swahili is easily Africa’s continental language”.

And true to the Ivorian King’s words, I can share this on my blog here as testimony to that - I have since way back in the 1970s socially known a good number of West Africans from Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, Senegal and Liberia – diplomats, businessmen and other exiled categories of travelers who lived in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania 1960s/70s. And yes these West Africans quickly learnt and spoke fluent Swahili.
And certainly during those years a score of Southern Africans of the Apartheid exile days who passed through Eastern Africa or, briefly lived in any of the major East African Cities – generally spoke good informal Swahili – and since that much travelled 1970s/80s - time when lots of Africans were ejected from their countries by coups, dictatorships or revolutionary wars… many central Africans from the old Zaire, Congo and Emperor Bokasa’s Central African Republic, Cameroun and Gabon lived for long stretches in East Africa, and via these travels – Swahili spread and by shifting this language is now spoken over much of the Central African Region.

During Don King’s ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ with Mohamed Ali and George Foreman back in 1974, I travelled flying three trips Entebbe/Kinshasa return within that year. And that time Swahili was unknown in the city of Kinshasa - we had to learn rudimentary Lingala or pidgin French to get along. It was the ultimate fun-times for us a group of four wild sports fans - in the most exciting music city in Africa - all the way from Kampala… simply memorable.

Today – thirty six years later, I am told by Ugandans who have travelled to D R Congo’s capital Kinshasa and confirm that one can now get along in the city comfortably speaking Swahili.
What I mean is Swahili is spreading… and as a trade language I doubt that anything can inhibit its spread – I think the Ivorian traditional King is right and also in-time, it isn’t (if) but very definitely AU has to launch a continental program easing-in the issue into the mindset of our fellow Africans – Swahili as Africa’s [pulp] language formally introduced or not, is likely to take the whole Africa over the next two decades. So why not formalize it now? ****

Sam Mwaka-karama
Analyst/Editor
The Movement Times
Kampala