Kiswahili to take centre stage at National cultural festival

RUVUMA: THE Ministry of Culture, Arts and Sports has emphasised that Kiswahili will play a vital role in the upcoming National Cultural Festival scheduled to take place in Ruvuma.

The Minister for Culture, Arts and Sports Damas Ndumbaro (pictured), noted that Tanzanians have every reason to cherish Kiswahili, as it is a precious national identity that many countries are not fortunate enough to have.

“We are lucky to have our own esteemed language, Kiswahili, which is a significant reflection of Tanzanian culture,” he disclosed during a press briefing in Songea, Ruvuma.

He further highlighted the importance of Kiswahili, noting that it is not only the national and official language, but also a language of commerce and daily communication in Tanzania.

To underline the significance of Kiswahili, Ndumbaro announced a Kiswahili language debate competition, scheduled for tomorrow, describing the language as “a culture that Tanzanians are immensely proud of.”

He also stressed the uniqueness of Tanzania, where a single language unites the nation, a fortune that many countries do not enjoy.

“Tanzania is truly fortunate, because many countries across the world, including some in Africa, do not have an indigenous national language.

They rely on foreign languages such as English, French, Portuguese or Spanish as their national languages,” he stated.

Ndumbaro further noted that in Africa, there are fewer countries with a singular native national language.

These include Tanzania (Kiswahili), Ethiopia (Amharic), Lesotho (Sesotho), and Somalia (Somali).

Other countries use two or more local languages, complementing each other as national language.

Kiswahili is one of the most widely spoken African languages and serves as the national language in multiple countries.

It is also a primary language of communication in East Africa and along the coastal regions of Africa.

Additionally, Kiswahili is recognised as one of the official languages of the African Union (AU), contributing to its growth and influence across the continent.

The upcoming cultural festival, which aims to celebrate Tanzanian culture, has attracted various stakeholders involved in the arts across the country.

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In highlighting the significance of a nation having one unifying language, Ndumbaro shared an anecdote, without naming the specific country, about an African nation that struggles with multiple languages.

He described how the news was broadcast in four different indigenous languages during his visit to that country.

“We don’t have that problem in Tanzania,” Ndumbaro proudly noted, reiterating that Tanzania is united under one language that serves as a national strength.

The minister also referenced the 41st session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) General Conference in 2021, where member states recognised and declared July 7th as World Kiswahili Day, further highlighting the global importance of the language.

The National Cultural Festival will be officially inaugurated by President Samia Suluhu Hassan and is set to take place from September 20 to 23.

This will be the third edition of the festival, with the first and second editions were staged in Dar es Salaam and Njombe regions in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

This year’s event will be held at the Majimaji Stadium, a venue rich in historic significance and a symbol of Tanzania’s unity.

In stressing the importance of preserving culture, the minister quoted the Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, who once said: “A nation without culture is a dead one.

It is a nation without a soul.

“We, as Tanzanians, should not be dead.

We recognise the importance of our culture and must preserve it through such festivals.”

The festival will also focus on promoting ethics in society as recently there have been increasing complaints about the erosion of moral values.

He called for action, urging the public to stop merely complaining and instead focus on emphasising the importance of respecting Tanzanian morals and traditions.

The festival, themed ‘Preserving and Implementing Our Culture and Humanity’, will feature a variety of activities, some of them already done, including a national ethics debate held on September 14th, the launch of entertainment events on the 15th and census-related workshops.

Ndumbaro further explained that inclusion of the census in the festival is to raise public awareness of its importance and how population data can drive community development.

Various traditional dances from different regions across the country will be showcased, including Lizombe and Mganda from the Ngoni, Sindimba from the Makonde, Sangula from the Ndamba and Pogolo, Kibati from Zanzibar, Gobogobo from the Sukuma and other traditional dances from the Chaga and Haya communities.