African Union approves Kiswahili as a work place language

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

The African Union (AU) heads of states and governments have approved the use of Kiswahili as an official Language in places of work. The milestone agreement was made at a 35th ordinary session of the African union assembly held between the 5th and 6th February 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The approval was made following a request by the Vice President of Tanzania, Dr. Philip Isdor Mpango, who argued that Kiswahili is one of the most spoken languages with more than 200 million speakers globally and that it should be given an official status.   

“Kiswahili is already in use in various communities including the East African Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as well as a teaching language in many African countries,” he noted. 

In his statement, he also pointed out that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared July 7th as the world’s Kiswahili Language Day.

Well, there you have it- Kiswahili Kitukuzwe!

  • Share