Scholars root for Swahili language to ease East African integration

Muslim scholars have called for more emphasis to be put on the promotion of the Swahili language  to unite the people within the East African region.

Speaking at the Arab-Swahili symposium organised by the Royal Saudi Embassy held at the IUIU Campus, different scholars highlighted that Swahili can easily lead to flourishing of trade in the region since it is one of those widely spoken in Eastern Africa.

The interaction of Arab traders with natives at the East African coast led to the birth of the Swahili language which is a mixture of Arabic and the native languages.

The language has since expanded to be one of the most common on the African continent with an estimate over 18 million speakers across nations. A

They pointed out the relationship between Arabic and Swahili, since one led to the birth and expansion of the other.

One of the scholars Dr Muhammad Mpezamihigo advised those who have failed to learn Swahili to at least make efforts to have their children learn it because the future of East African integration is much more dependent on this common language.

"We need to mainstream Swahili because it is the future of the East African Federation. We can introduce competitions, exchange programmes, send our people to go to Zanzibar to further understand Swahili. We can also have teachers to train our people from here," said Dr. Mpezamihigo.

The Saudi Arabia Ambassador to Uganda Jamal Al-Madani emphasized the need for being multi-lingual in the world today.

"We share a lot in our history, and the language is one of them the world is very small and we need to learn languages that bind us together," said Al-Madani.