In Uganda, New Vision reports that Kiswahili, which is being promoted as a lingua franca for East Africa, could endanger local languages; a scenario that is already being observed in Tanzania, and is beginning to be seen in Kenya. The article recognises that Kiswahili is unlikely to ever become widespread outside of the region, and suggests that therefore local languages need to be promoted alongside Kiswahili, as they have their own cultural, economic, and social values that might otherwise be lost if they disappeared.
The author of the article contends that a similar process occured when English and the other colonial languages began to take over in Africa, with many poets beginning to write in the new language, leaving a cultural vacuum in their native tongues.
The article concludes with this interesting anecdote: "One relatively well educated man in Kabale once told me that if he had gone through school with his mother tongue Rukiga as the medium of instruction and reading, he would certainly have made it to university because he would have understood and responded to the subject matters of the many disciplines far much better."
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