Language Polemic in Tanzanian Parliament: A Compartmentalized and Asymmetrical Coexistence between Bills Prepared in English versus Debates Conducted in Swahili

Abstract

This paper focuses on Swahilization in the Tanzanian legislature and examines the question of language in a parliamentary setting. That Tanzania stands out as one of the few exceptions to the general rule that in most African countries the language of the legislature is the language of the former colonial power (Mazrui and Mazrui 1998: 85) is unequivocal. However, the country has not fully exploited the potential to make Swahili a veritable medium of communication in all aspects of public life, and the legislative process in particular. In Tanzania, parliamentary debates are conducted either in Swahili or English, while parliamentary bills are drafted exclusively in English. The continued insistence on the exclusive use of English in legislation has prompted a series of polemical discussions far beyond the confines of parliament. In addition tobeing restricted as a co-language of parliamentary debates, Swahili risks further marginalization in parliamentary debates due to the increasing encroachment of English which manifests itself in code mixing, code-switching and other instances of non-normative use of Swahili. Starting from the viewpoint that the asymmetrical and compartmentalized coexistence between English and Swahili in a parliamentary setting is a reflection of inequalities in different individuals’ and groups’ access to linguistic resources in Tanzanian society as a whole, this paper aligns itself, to a large extent, with the views propagated by both the language ecology movement (LE), and the linguistic human rights movement (LHR). Nevertheless, it does not fully espouse the movements’ basic approach to the core of linguistic inequalities, especially the much-criticized tendency to present a ‘preservationist’ and ‘romanticist’account of indigenous languages and their marginalization and eventual loss. This paper examines the increasing preponderance of English over Swahili, and other indigenous African languages, in various domains of public life, by considering the degree of accessibility to linguistic resources. Access is a key term for understanding the overall sociopolitical structures and processes that produce, reproduce and reinforce the inequalities in different individuals and social groups. This paper looks at the extent to which Swahili is used in the legislative process and analyses the implications of a full adoption of Swahili as a language of the law. This analysis is in line with the principle that people should have access to the legislative process in their language or languages of greater competence. For participatory democracy to prosper, what is discussed and legislated in parliament has to be rendered accessible to the general public. Previous studies (e.g. MacWilliam and Chuwa, 1990; Mwansoko and Tumbo-Masabo, 1996) paid much attention to the normative aspects of language use in parliament. A normative approach by itself is also important in the sense that the legislative body is a public institution charged with the task of facilitating communication by means of proper use of language(s). However, as has often been noted, what goes on in parliament is closely interlinked with the overall sociopolitical changes and processes that Tanzanian society has been undergoing. The conspicuous demonstration of English by the privileged power elite in Tanzania is in constant conflict with the limited accessibility of linguistic resources by the majority of its citizens. Parliament is not an exception to this phenomenon. Parliamentarians, who are well aware of the prestige functions attributed to English, tend to be under externally-driven or self-imposed pressure to use English in Parliament. This is largely due to the fact that the general association of English with being educated, competent, intelligent, etc. is widespread in Tanzanian society. Data for this study come from a range of sources, including media reports and parliamentary questions and answers obtained from the official website of the Parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania (tovuti rasmi ya Bunge la Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania). To sum up, English as a lingua franca of the emerging global village continues to be equated with higher learning, globalization and intellectual capacity and thus perceived as a tool for upward social mobility in Tanzanian society as a whole and as a gateway to the world. As a result, a sense of reality in a positive sense of meaning and false consciousness in its negative sense of meaning seem to mold many Tanzanians’ mindset, culminating in a pejorative characterization popularly dubbed as utumwa wa kifikra (mental slavery). Parliament is a public milieu in which the compartmentalized and asymmetrical coexistence between English and Swahili is brought into focus with regards to the democratic access or accessibility to linguistic resources as well as to the legislative process. What takes place with respect to language use in Tanzanian Parliament has to be viewed in the overall context of sociopolitical changes and processes that have been taking place in Tanzania.