Marehemu Julius Kambarage Nyerere and Kiswahili

Abstract

The article takes a survey of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s contribution and commitment to the development and recognition of Kiswahili as a lugha ya wanyonge. It shows Nyerere’s personal contribution that enabled the language to overcome critical years when and where the political climate was much in favour of consolidating the position of English in Tanganyika/Tanzania. While Nyerere is shown to have been a pragmatist who understood well the linguistic situation in his country it is indicated also that at times Mwalimu had some biased attitude to English or against Kiswahili especially with regard to the use the latter as a medium of instruction in secondary schools and at tertiary levels of education. The stance of the article though, is that such shortcomings are of minor importance in the light of Nyerere’s overall personal impact in the implementation of a commendable language policy for his country, which is still the best choice in terms of national and international experiences.