International Day of Kiswahili: How a language birthed a global culture

John Kanya wants Kenya to change its name to a Swahili word during Kiswahili day.[Collins Kweyu,Standard]

On July 7, 1954, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere urged his Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) party to adopt Kiswahili as a "unifying language for independence struggles".

Kenya's founding president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, too, rallied the country to adopt the use of the language through his famous refrain of 'Harambee'. He liberally used the language in his official speeches.