Which is why, they see the Bureau of East African Community Speakers as a cog in the wheel for such interaction. Article 137 of the Treaty establishing the EAC states that “English shall be the official language of the Community while Kiswahili will be developed as a lingua franca”. French commitmentThe East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) and the East African Court of Justice have often bickered over whether documents should be translated into French. Recently, the EAC Secretariat requested the French government to support a programme to improve French language proficiency in the bloc. The EAC and the French government had signed an agreement in March 2020, setting in motion efforts to make French as an official language of the EAC, alongside English.

Source: Daily Nation November 14, 2024 16:47 UTC