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Revive African languages centre – minister
2006-02-27 09:36:08
By Correspondent Mwinyi Sadallah, Zanzibar
Eastern Africa Centre for Research and Oral Traditions and African National Languages (EACROTANAL) should be revived speedly, Zanzibar Deputy Chief Minister, Ali Juma Shamhuna has said.
Calling for concerted efforts to revive the body, Shamuhuna who is also the Minister for Information, Culture and Sports underscored how useful the centre was as he visited the offices where the centre is located at Kikwajuni on Friday.
’The centre used to be very useful in the whole region. If revived, it can continue playing an active role in the development of African cultures and traditions,’ he said.
’It would be a shame and a big blow to the nation if the centre that was established in 1977 would continue to be neglected and ultimately left out to meet its natural death,’ he said.
Further deterioration of the centre could depict a bad picture to the world and lead some countries to lose faith on Zanzibar as a proper place to start institutions of international status, he said.
Minister Shamuhuna pledged that he would seek an audience with President Amani Abeid Karume specifically to draw concrete strategies to revive EACROTANAL.
Poor performance of EACROTANAL in the last 10 years was due to lack of seriousness and commitment by the centre’s secretariat that was appointed by the then Organization of African Unity (OAU), he said.
As a result of poor performance of the then secretariat, EACROTANAL was left an orphan institution which lacked proper care from any quarter, he said.
The recent statement by the Union President, Jakaya Kikwete, that Kiswahili language could play a big role in the promotion of African cultures and traditions must be supported, he said.
Speaking at the occasion, a member of the revival committee of EACROTANAL, Eliakim Matheru said that the member nations had picked and assigned Tanzania with the responsibilities for revival plans of the centre within two years.
’It has been suggested that all member nations must pay their annual contributions well in time to support EACROTANAL to perform its duties,’ he said.
Matheru said the Centre’s Managing Director would be taken to task if he fails to make a follow up of payments through contributions.
EACROTANAL was established in 1977 but ceased to operate in 1994 because of financial constraints to meet operational costs.
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