The coastal city of Mombasa will play host to the commemoration of the second World Swahili Day slated for July 7 to 9 at the newly refurbished Fort Jesus Park.

The celebrations will run concurrently in Nairobi and Lamu counties as the government plans to use the event as a tourist attraction.

Addressing the media in Mombasa, the National Museums of Kenya Heritage Training Institution coordinator Khalid Omar said the commemoration of the day signifies the growth of Kiswahili in the world and the Swahili culture.

“Our aim for having the celebrations in Mombasa is not just for people to come sing, wine and dance, but we want to see how communities living along the coast can benefit and earn income through this celebrations,”

“We want tourists from across the world to be thronging Mombasa every year to mark this important and historic day in the Kiswahili language and culture,” said Omar.

The United Nation Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) declared July 7 to be the World Kiswahili Language Day.

The declaration was made on September 23, 2021 during the 41st session of Unesco member states in Paris, France.

Unesco settled for July 7 which is a day that the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) under the leadership of the first president of the United Republic of Tanzania the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere adopted Kiswahili as a unifying language for independence struggles.

Similarly, the East African Community (EAC) was re-established in the year 2000 to rekindle the spirit of cooperation and integration among East African people where Kiswahili language is widely spoken.

Omar said that this year’s celebration will be bigger and better saying a number of government departments and stakeholders had expressed interest in supporting the event.

“We have lined up a series of activities for wazee, women and the youth that will run from July 7 to 9. The culmination for it will be a gal diner for partners and sponsor hosted for them by the governor on the evening of July 9,” Omar said.

The youth, Omar said, will be engaged in a series of activities including a soccer tournament, swimming across the Mkomani channel because the Kiswahili language has a connection with the sea.

They will also have dialogues for them to help nature orators in Swahili, have poetry competitions and also composition writing on emerging issues in Kiswahili.

For the elderly, he said they have planned a number of forums to discuss the journey of growing and developing Kiswahili that will also see them have a sit-down with the youth to compare and share notes.

“We have also lined up a competition for grating coconut for our women, they will also have a completion for applying hinna and piko and they will also have a session to share different native Swahili songs and dances like msonndo ngoma,” he said.

The government, he said, was currently working on establishing the Kiswahili Council that will play a pivotal role in preservation and development of Kiswahili.

The bill to establish the council he said had already been passed and it will soon be launched and members appointed.

“The council will comprise experts from universities down to the locals using Kiswahili,” he said.

Kiswahili continues to face challenges from the sheng language though experts say that it cannot be replaced or outweighed by sheng.

“From my view sheng is not a big threat to Kiswahili because it continues changing and differs from town to another. I see it as a language that the youth identify with,” Omar said.

Mombasa County executive for Trade, Tourism and Culture Mohammed Osman said that the county was ready to host the celebration reiterating the governor’s commitment to see it succeeds.

He said that they were putting measures to ensure security is top notch.

“The governor is committed to see that we preserve our national language, has promised that the county assembly of Mombasa will have a special day for Kiswahili,” said Osman.

The chief of staff in the office of the principal secretary state department of culture and heritage Mudathir Abdulkarim called on Kenyans from all folks to turn up in numbers to celebrate the day.

Mudathir said that this is a day for all Swahili speaking nations to celebrate the language that is now connecting the world to be a global village.

“Let us come together as Kenyans to celebrate our beautiful Kiswahili language. Come taste and sample different Swahili cuisines and culture and get to learn more about the history of the language,” he said.