Kenyan Universities asked to develop curriculum for local languages

By Robert Nyasato

Learners have been challenged to read local languages for cultural posterity.

Kisii Governor James Ongwae asked managers of universities to incorporate local languages in their curriculum to protect them for posterity.

Ongwae, who launched the first Ekegusii dictionary at Kisii Cultural Centre yesterday, noted that the youth had embraced foreign languages, hampering their communication with elders.

The governor, flanked by his deputy Joash Maangi, underscored the importance of language and urged locals to embrace a reading culture to foster social, cultural and economic development. He urged the authors Kennedy Bosire and Gladys Machogu under Ekegusii Encyclopedia Project (EEP) to publicise and sell it locally and globally to help Abagusii in the Diaspora to read and protect the language. To promote the Gusii language in schools, Ongwae pledged to buy each secondary school the Ekegusii dictionary and urged locals to buy it.

He said he had set a side Sh8 million for a cultural museum and Sh5 million for annual cultural festivals to remind and re-unite the local people to promote Gusii culture and its values.

Cultural week

He is to team up with his Nyamira counterpart John Nyagarama to launch and support a cultural week where community members will showcase various cultural products, food and compete in various sporting activities.

Kisii University Vice-Chancellor Prof John Akama challenged Gusii elders to sensitise youth on Gusii cultural values to foster community and national cohesion. The youth, noted Akama, aped negative western cultures, which he noted corrupted their morals. Abagusii Culture and Development Council Chairman Araka Matundura urged authors to write vernacular books for school children to help them read and speak the language fluently and coherently.

Matundura noted the usage of Ekegusii language among youths was declining at an alarming rate and urged the government to promote the teaching of indigenous languages to preserve culture. In a seperate development, Ongwae  expressed concern over the quality of seed accessed by farmers in the area.

Mr Ongwae lamented that farmers were realising worryingly low yields in farms that previously recorded good returns.

 “Reports of fake seeds in circulation in the region should be investigated and the vice dealt with accordingly to cushion our farmers against such loses,” Ongwae told The Standard on Saturday. The governor’s concerns comes in the wake of complains by maize growers that their maize had stunted growth and failed to yield as expected.  This is despite having followed the entire farming requirement for the crop.

He asked the Kenya Seed Company to come to the rescue of farmers by weeding out the fake seed dealers. Assuring the farmers that all was being done to improve their productivity, Ongwae said his government was focused on agricultural marketing, farm inputs, farm produce pricing and financing to farmers.

He expressed disappointment with the Agricultural Finance Corporation, saying it was doing little to assist farmers to access credit facilities.

Ongwae said he was working on a formula for local farmers to access the market directly without going through middlemen.