By Monday Akol Amazima
On 7th July 2026 as the world was celebrating the International Kiswahili Day, Alan Kasujja the Executive Director of Uganda Media Centre was joined by the Rt Hon Kasule Lumumba the minister of ICT and national guidance to launch the establishment of a Kiswahili desk at Uganda Media Centre. The desk is to among others coordinate the development of Kiswahili in the media and translate government communications into Kiswahili.
Media has an important role to paly in the development of any idea for it inspires and reaches many. The development of Kiswahili as the second official language and lingua franca of the East African Community can not be complete minus the media. Government and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni have done a lot in the development of Kiswahili including cabinet learning Kiswahili every Monday so much so that some government agencies are also having their staff learn Kiswahili.
Kiswahili is a compulsory subject at lower secondary school, therefore pointing to the fact that in the education sector Kiswahili has more than developed. When it comes to the media, the fact that out of over 54 television stations in the country, only 4 have Kiswahili programs is a matter that requires our attention. Having only 30 FM stations having Kiswahili broadcast services out of the over 278 across the country is something that waters down Uganda’s efforts in developing Kiswahili as the Pan African language for wider communication.
Therefore, the move by Uganda Media Centre to guide the growth of the language on media has to be supported. Meida is that magic bullet that will inspire the entire country to freely use Kiswahili for it serves as the teacher of the public. This will also create ground for our journalists to have the capacity to practice even outside Uganda where proficiency in Kiswahili and any other international language is a key requirement. Ugandan journalists should utilise this opportunity to learn basics in functional Kiswahili ahead of AFCON so they can be able to correspond for some media houses outside Uganda.
Other than media, the other important area that requires the use and development of Kiswahili is the entertainment industry. Peter Francis Ojede the Executive Director of Uganda National Cultural Centre says it is time Kiswahili is also developed in all cultural domains including performing arts. He argues that Uganda’s film and music industry should be empowered to tap into the globally growing audience of Kiswahili. Now that Kiswahili is an international language it therefore implies the demand for entertainment in Kiswahili is on the rise.
Over dependence of Ugandan artists on the local languages mainly Luganda limits their growth in the international rankings and therefore a disadvantage to Uganda’s entertainment industry. In order to develop the use of Kiswahili among the creatives so that our Ugandan artists can also reap from the growing audience of Kiswahili globally, there is need for a national survey to establish the state and Kiswahili capacities in the entertainment industry. The findings of this survey will inform policy formulation and resource mobilisation for empowering artists in that direction.
Finally, with the world embracing Kiswahili as the Pan-African language for wider communication and a language of identity for Sub-Sahara Africa, sectors like media and performing arts that reach many people within a short time should be empowered to facilitate people’s appreciation of the language.
The author is a Pan African and Kiswahili communication specialist.
