Language policy in Kenya at the Crossroads

Abstract

An examination of the Development of Language Policy in Kenya demonstrates that Policies made about Language have to such extent been faced with bottlenecks. This is attributed to colonial language policies that have influenced policy decisions in the post colonial era. One watches with awe to note for example that forty years from independence Kenya is still grappling with attempts to institutionalize Kiswahili as National Language as demonstrated in the New Constitution which was promulgated as recent as 2010. This is in sharp contrast with the sister Country Tanzania which embraced the National Language concept much earlier. It is based on this understanding that this paper highlights the milestones of language policy in Kenya. The paper makes specific reference to Kiswahili, English, Mother tongues and foreign languages. The authors critically examine policies made concerning the usage of these Languages and seek to demonstrate that Language Policy in Kenya needs re-thinking