Saba Saba Day is coming: What should Kiswahili tell the world?

I am in a celebration mood, and I hope you will join me, as indeed, we have cause to celebrate.

The only cloud on my mind just now is the colossal loss of Mzee Joe Kadhi, the doyen, grand master and teacher of all of us who aspire to quality journalistic writing.

My more knowledgeable colleagues continue to give us descriptions and evaluations of this exceptional media man, a major contributor to our NMG tradition.

Back to the celebrations, however, I have two main reasons for feeling glad and grateful. You know, one of the secrets of living a long and happy life is this ability to recognise good happenings and feeling good about them. It recharges you and enables you to continue with life’s struggles with renewed vigour. So, here I am celebrating, first, the completion of the first half of 2022 and, secondly, the approaching “Saba Saba” Day.

 Regarding the half year, every season comes with its challenges, and 2022 is no exception, with its soaring prices and even the rising temperature of the political contests.

On second thoughts, however, do you notice that these six months are the first solid spell of time, since early 2020, that we have lived without any restrictions, closures, curfews and lockdowns?

Life may never be quite the same again, and we should not completely let our guard, and our masks, down, as Warrior Kagwe and his team reminded us recently. Still, the newfound freedom and confidence is worth a toast and a humble Alhamdulillah.

As for the “Saba Saba”, it is the seventh day of the seventh month. Indeed, it is this date that people mark with various significances.

1990 Kamukunji Rally

In Kenya, as I told you, its freshest memory is of the 1990 Kamukunji Rally, a landmark in the struggle for democratic space.

In Tanzania, in my young adult days, we celebrated 7th July in memory of the date in 1954 when Mwalimu Julius Nyerere launched the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), the party that led Tanganyika to uhuru. It later merged with the Afro-Shiraz party of Zanzibar to form Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), the current ruling party in the United Republic of Tanzania.

The latest “Saba Saba”, however, is the Kiswahili Language World Day (Siku ya Kiswahili Duniani) to be observed next Thursday, July 7. This will be the inaugural celebration of the day, recommended and authorised by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). I asked you to plan and prepare your own celebrations of this day, when Kiswahili is officially elevated to the status of a global language. I am sure you are all set for the celebrations.

The East African Kiswahili Commission will, appropriately, host the main East African function in Zanzibar, where the Commission is headquartered. I will tell you more about the “hafla” (function and party) after witnessing the events.

I have, however, been asked to participate in a Symposium (a baraza) at the celebrations, and this is what made me come to you, not only to share with you my excitement but also to seek your advice on what I should say. Incidentally, the proceeding will be live and face-to-face this time, not virtual as such events have mostly been since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Down to business, six main speakers, one from each member state of the East African Community, will present the main topics at the Symposium. The eminent presenters include my close friends, Prof Mlinzi Mulokozi of Tanzania and Kenya’s Prof Clara Momanyi, the most fluent speaker of Kiswahili I know. Do I not have reason to fear and tremble at the prospect of sharing a platform with these stalwarts and experts of our beloved language?

Official language

 Anyway, my concern is the content of my contribution to the baraza, and this is where I need your advice. My topic is “Kiswahili as an official language of the East African Community: challenges and the future”. I need not give you the whole title in Kiswahili, but my main focus as I ponder what to say is with the key words there, like “lugha rasmi” (official language), “changamoto” (challenges) and “mustakabali” (future, prospects). I would love to hear your views regarding these matters, and if I get them in time, I will share them with the august audience in Zanzibar.

Meanwhile, I am bubbling with excitement at the prospect of actively marking the Kiswahili Language World Day, with the East African Kiswahili Commission, and in Zanzibar. Each of these three has special significance for me. About Kiswahili, I need not din my “addiction” into your ears yet again. My cup truly overflows as I see it receive its long-deserved recognition on the international scene.

The East African Kiswahili Commission has played a surprisingly strong role in the evolution of my linguistic thinking. Although I was involved in formulating the framework for its establishment and modus operandi, I now realise that that very process contributed very richly to my awareness of how language operates and should operate in a multilingual and pluralistic context like that of the East African Community. The regular invitations from my colleague and friend, Prof Inyani Simala, the first Executive Secretary of the Commission, to participate in all its early activities have also been a great learning experience for me.

As for Zanzibar, which I first visited in 1965, and last in 2018, call me sentimental if you will, but I am one of the many who think it is magic. Each and every one of my visits, whether business or pleasure, remains memorable. It was, for example, in Zanzibar, on an editorial assignment, that I watched the live broadcast of Wangari Maathai’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 2004. Recently I have been enchanted by the brilliant reports of my young friend, Sheba Hirst, who attended this year’s Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) on the island.

I wonder if the magic will get me again this time.

Prof Bukenya is a leading East African scholar of English and [email protected]