What Kenya can do with the soft power Kiswahili brings

In the 1980s and early 1990s thousands of Kenyans who wished to listen to news about their country would tune in to BBC radio or Radio Deutsch Welle or VOA (Sauti ya America) in Kiswahili.

Finding these stations on the short wave (masafa mafupi) was sometimes an exploration in the laws of physics. It was about turning the knob but also positioning the radio to reduce static. It was also some kind of training in the art of listening and interpretation. One had to decipher what the announcer was saying, sometimes in an accent one would never have imagined – what about having to figure out that kenia was actually Kenya!

But there was also Radio Beijing. Listening to music and news from thousands of miles away from Kenya, when one had never met a Chinese except in kung fu or karate films was an unforgettable experience.

But why were the British, Germans or the Chinese broadcasting into Africa/East Africa/Kenya in Kiswahili? How many English people or Germans or Chinese really spoke Kiswahili? What was their interest in it? Why would they invest so much money in broadcasting to audiences thousands away? 

This was the ultimate performance of soft power. By acknowledging the importance of these radio stations in bringing us news, information and entertainment at the time, in opposition to our own VoK/KBC, Kenyans were being sucked into a cultural matrix of influence.

In other words, the British, Germans, Americans and Chinese were peddling their sway in Africa and to Africans using an African language. Those who listened to these foreign radio stations were happy or even proud that they could access these stations, in a language that they understood; and that the radio programs they listened to spoke to them, offering them news, information and entertainment that wasn’t necessarily available locally or which had actually been banned in the country.

Language and culture

They also felt delighted that they were among the first people to be informed about the latest news in the world (even when such news was happening in their own community); they knew about innovations and changes in the rest of the world before a majority; they listened to the latest songs from other parts of the world long before they were available locally. They were ahead of the rest.

Soft power is why Kenyans worship British standards; it is why a Kenyan will proudly say that they are anti-colonial but also unashamedly display the ‘fellowships’ and awards they have received from institutions from former colonizers of Africa; it is why Kenyans will swear by foreign institutions whilst maintaining that they are proudly African! Soft power is often packaged in a language and culture.

Which is why some Kenyans are very proud that they can speak English as if they were born and raised in England (yet there are English people who can hardly speak passable English). It is soft power that makes some Kenyans who speak French or German see themselves as special. Indeed they are special because they are a minority!

So, why can’t Kenyans exploit the soft power that comes with Kiswahili? What can’t Kenyans do with the freely available Kiswahili? After all, we teach Kiswahili from the kindergarten to the university; we speak it all over the place; it is an official language; it has been around for millennia; we have all the material to have exploited the potential of Kiswahili into an industry, in a sense. Think about English, German, French, Italian, or Mandarin. These languages are taught, not because they are languages, but because they are keys to the heart of their peoples’ cultures and worlds.

But why Kiswahili and why now? Because as recently reported in the media, UNESCO declared the 7th of July as the World Kiswahili Day. This will be a day to celebrate Kiswahili, to promote it, to speak it, to share it etc. For the more than a 100 million speakers of Kiswahili, the recognition of the importance of Kiswahili by UNESCO is an acknowledgement of their cultures, histories, and worldviews as worthy of joining the table of humanity. After all, this is the first African language that UNESCO has recognized as worth celebrating globally.

Now, consider that the Democratic Republic of Congo will soon be joining the East African Community. This is a country of about 90 million people. The East African Community is primarily an economic bloc. It will hardly become the envisaged political union.

Power of Kiswahili

But there is immense opportunity to linguistically and culturally connect the envisaged population of more than a quarter billion people in the region. The lingua franca here can, should and could be Kiswahili. Why? Because the language is spoken, in one form or another all over Eastern and Central Africa, all the way to Southern Africa. It is a language of everyday life, at the market, family gatherings or friends having a drink at a pub.

Yet, Kiswahili is also the language of culture in the region. Musical orchestras all the way from the DRC into Kenya, young rap artists and church choirs perform in Kiswahili. From the music of the late Franco, Madilu, or Koffi Olomide from Zaire/DRC; to DDC Mlimani Park, Diamond Platnumz, Ali Kiba or Zuchu from Tanzania; to Bobi Wine, Bebe Cool or Jose Chameleon in Uganda; to Sauti Sol, Mejja to Wakadinali in Kenya; from the Taarab of Zanzibar/Kenya to the Gospel of Tanzania and Kenya, Kiswahili threads through their music.

It doesn’t matter whether it is the whole song being sung in Kiswahili or a few words here and their; Kiswahili proclaims itself in the music and film and culture as a local and regional identity. What is more important is that it pulls together the old and the young.

If the envisioned EAC were to include Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, Congo, and the islands off the coast of east Africa, Kiswahili would end up reaching just about half a billion people. It would connect them in schools, political assemblies, churches, mosques, temples, markets, dance halls, sports venues, on the streets, in homes, at birth, in love, in death; Kiswahili would breach the hold of the colonial languages and give the region and its people a language whose roots are local and African.

So, how can’t Kenyans not have seen the power of Kiswahili as a linguistic tool of cross-border and intercultural connections? If Kenya really believes that it is a regional economic powerhouse, how has it not thought of using Kiswahili as soft power in its economic incursion in the region? Are Kenyans ready to send teachers of Kiswahili (and English) into the DRC? Would Kenyans support the establishment, for instance, of institutions to support research and development of Kiswahili in South Sudan? Can Kenya promote local music and film in Kiswahili in the rest of the region? Or can Kenya help local investors to set up more radio stations broadcasting in the region in Kiswahili?

Well, consider that French is soon becoming one of the official languages of EAC. And soon Mandarin will be taught in Kenyan schools. Yet we are still fumbling with the teaching, research and development of Kiswahili in this country!

The writer teaches literature and performing arts at the University of Nairobi. [email protected]