|
Malawians laud Tanzania on Kiswahili official use
2007-04-24 10:04:10
By Gerald Kitabu
Malawians have commended Tanzanians for making a right and timely choice to declare Kiswahili the national language.
They said unlike other neighbouring countries, Tanzania managed to strengthen and maintain peace, stability and unity among its people through the effective use of Kiswahili.
Others said after independence the government of Tanzania realised that tribalism would be one of the obstacles to forging national unity and therefore acted decisively to promote Kiswahili as a common language.
In Malawi, Kiswahili is not widely spoken while English is the official language and media of instruction. Sometime Chichewa is also used in official functions.
However, Chichewa, a widely used native language, was yet to be officially endorsed by the government to become a national language due to some complications feared to crop up.
The Malawians were contributing recently to a constitutional review debate through Television Malawi ahead of the second national constitutional review conference to open in the capital, Lilongwe, this week.
During the three-day conference, a special law reform commission under the chairmanship of Professor Zimani Kadzamira is scheduled to present a draft report on the constitutional review.
The commission will also seek inputs from various stakeholders from the government, parliamentarians, academicians and NGOs.
Commenting on whether Chichewa should be made a national language, some Malawians expressed doubt, saying should the constitution allow Chichewa to become the national language the decision would be synonymous to a deliberate restraining the use of other native languages.
It was suggested that a checks-and-balance system focusing on performance assessment of MPs should be introduced so that if a lawmaker does not deliver to the people`s expectations after being in office for two years they should be removed immediately.
They argued that keeping non-performing MPs in office for five years was not only dangerous but also a burden to taxpayers and the nation at large.
|
