Dar solidifies Kiswahili use

PRESIDENT John Magufuli has directed all state leaders including the Vice-President and Prime Minister to use Kiswahili in all official duties within and outside the country. The President’s directive was issued by Vice-President Ms Samia Hassan Suluhu at the official launch of the national patriotism campaign held here, yesterday.

The fresh directives mean all public leaders will now be using Kiswahili replacing other international languages when making or delivering public statements. “This campaign will be a catalyst to reviving people’s attention and help them become more patriotic to their nation,” said the Vice-President at a ceremony also attended by Zanzibar President Dr Ali Mohamed Shein, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, heads of security organs, ministers, religious leaders, and artists.

The campaign themed “My country first” aims at reminding Tanzanians to be loyal and faithful to their country. The campaign also seeks to boost the country’s traditional, cultural and language identity.

According to Hassan, Kiswahili language is the country’s identity. She urged the public to learn from President Dr Magufuli and Zanzibar President Dr Shein for being true representatives of Tanzanian patriots.

The government said such patriotic forum will beheld in both Tanzania Mainland and the Isles and will include performance review. She instructed schools to teach the young generations as part of creating a better nation of people who are ready to work for their country.

Abide by the rule of law and avoid violence, abuse and use of drugs. “They also fight corruption and love the country.” Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Shein said the country had lost patriots including volunteers.

On Language usage, the President said in previous years, Tanzania was identified as the country where Kiswahili was manufactured. “Kenya was not for speaking while Uganda for burying. Now things are different we’re killing our own language,” he said.

Prime Minister Mr Majaliwa said that he too had received a directive from the President and had shared to all ministers regarding usage of Kiswahili in official duties. “China and Japan had developed by using their our native language so do we,” he said. He said a patriot is a person who is ready to die for his or her country.

Our founding fathers fought for the country. And, our President is the first patriotic person in this country and we must support him in all ways. He urged the people to support the president by defending the nation, fighting corruption, embezzlement of public resources and work hard. “A nation without tradition is dead; we should support our artists as well,” he said.

Minister of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports Dr Harrison Mwakyembe explained that Kiswahili is the 10th language among 6,000 languages in the world. He said the development of technology was posing a huge toll on the country’s traditional and cultural practices but maintained that the time to change is now.


He said it is high time that Kiswahili language be used during judicial proceedings. And, added that the ministry is well prepared should the courts need assistance to translate its books.