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During a graduation ceremony at Kyambogo University, where 304 students graduated from a Kiswahili course organised by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Secretariat, President Museveni called for the expansion of the Swahili language's vocabulary to make it more internationally recognised and widely accepted across Africa.
Museveni, a well-known advocate for cultural and linguistic preservation, said Kiswahili, which has its roots in a blend of Bantu languages and influences from Arabic and other coastal languages, can be further enriched by borrowing from other African dialects.
In his speech, he cited examples where existing Kiswahili words like "kutaka" (to want) are derived from other African languages, such as Kinyarwanda's "gushaka" and while “kuenda” can be traced to Uganda’s own "kugenda/Kugyenda" (to go).
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He also pointed out that while Kiswahili has incorporated Arabic terms, African languages like Runyankore and Rukiga could offer unique contributions to fill certain linguistic gaps.
We've done it before
According to Museveni, adding new words to Kiswahili is not far-fetched as it has been done by people like the late former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere.
“Mwalimu Nyerere actually started out on this by creating some new words in Swahili. He for instance added the term “Ikulu” which means State House. This was the term which I suspect was used by the Banyamwenzi of Tabora to refer to the home of a chief,” he said.
Museveni believes that by continuing this tradition, African nations can bolster Kiswahili’s status as a global language, which will help unite the continent.
President Museveni's interest in language development is not new.
He co-authored the first-ever Runyankore-Rukiga thesaurus, (Katondoozi).
The President at the event, commended the NRM leaders under Secretary-General Richard Todwong for coming up with the idea of teaching Kiswahili to Ugandans.