AMANDLA!

If you are a fan of African music then you have probably heard of the South African rapper by the name Sho Madjozi. If you don’t listen to African sounds then by all means check Sho out. Madjozi stands out for many reasons among them her eclectic fashion sense, her electric on stage presence and definitely her good music. To me however what rouses my interest is her incorporation of different African dialects in her music, most notably being her rapping in the Swahili language. She however is not the first artist to use a language other than her native, Miriam Makeba did so aeons ago with her breathtaking song “Malaika” which without a doubt is a hit all around the continent if not the world.

There are between 1,500 to 2,000 languages spoken all throughout the continent with Swahili being the most widely used, spoken by roughly 150 Million people across 11 countries. It therefore comes as a surprise when most Africans, or Kenyans in this case, opt for foreign languages when looking for third or fourth options. To many people, French or Spanish seem more marketable as compared to Amharic or Zulu. Many of us suffer from colonial hangover it seems.

Recently the African nations have ratified the continental free trade agreement making commerce between countries more seamless. This development will see more collaboration between different people from different nations within the continent and as such it would make sense if the next declaration of the AU would be a common language, for what brings people together more than being able to communicate aptly?

The 11 states that make up the SADC(Southern Africa Development Community) have recognized Swahili formally as an official language and South Africa has gone a step further and formed a partnership with Tanzania to have Teachers from Tanzania teach students in South African school.

There are many ways of ensuring a cohesive Africa free from artificial borders imposed on us through imperialist conquest and a common language for the African peoples will play a major role in the realization of the African goal ( NB. Goal, not dream). I therefore propose the adoption of the Swahili language as the African peoples language.

Amandla in the Nguni language means “Power” and was popularized as a rallying call during the anti-apartheid era and was fondly used by the late revolutionary Winnie Madikizela Mandela. The response to it is Ngawethu which means “It is ours”. Power to The People