Hon. Mubarak Munyagwa, from Common Man’s Party, one of those contesting Presidency in Uganda, has surprised the public with his proposal to ban Swahili language in the country’s Education system once offered the mandate to lead this country.
Uganda’s 2026 presidential race has attracted wide media attention as candidate Mubarak Munyagwa, leader of the Common Man’s Party, announced his intention to ban the use of Swahili in education and public systems if elected. The proposal, delivered in a widely circulated video and reiterated in campaign speeches, has attracted criticism across East Africa.
This comes at a time when young Africans are promoting the adoption of native African language in the education system. In Uganda, Swahili was added as a second official language to strengthen ties within the East African Community. In recent years, Uganda even made Swahili compulsory in schools—a move Munyagwa now seeks to reverse.
Munyagwa stated, “We shall ban Swahili as our national language… we need French instead.” He argues that Swahili, though officially recognized in Uganda since 2005 to promote East African integration, is not widely spoken across the country and limits Ugandans’ access to broader international opportunities.
Many people have a belief that, that the use of a common African language will ease the path to African unity. The idea of a shared African language is not new as Pan-Africanists like Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere envisioned linguistic unity as a cornerstone of continental solidarity.
