LANGUAGE  AND  REGINAL  INTEGRATION:  A  Case  Of  Kiswahili  and  The  East  African  Community  

Table  of  Contents  Introduction  .................................................................................................................................  1  Background  to  the  study  ..........................................................................................................  1  Statement  of  the  problem  ........................................................................................................  3  Purpose  of  the  study  ..................................................................................................................  3  Objectives  ......................................................................................................................................  3  Research  questions  ....................................................................................................................  4  Justification  ..................................................................................................................................  4  Significance  ..................................................................................................................................  4  Assumptions  .................................................................................................................................  5  Scope  of  the  study  .......................................................................................................................  5  Limitations  and  Delimitations  ...............................................................................................  5  Summary  .......................................................................................................................................  6  

CHAPTER  TWO  ...................................................................................................................  7  Literature  review  .......................................................................................................................  7  Summary  of  the  chapter  and  conclusion  .........................................................................  10  

CHAPTER  THREE:  METHODOLOGY  ...........................................................................  11  Introduction  ..............................................................................................................................  11  Research  Design  ......................................................................................................................  11  Data  collection  instruments  ................................................................................................  11  The  Sampling  Method  ............................................................................................................  12  Sample  size  ................................................................................................................................  12  Data  Collection  procedure  ...................................................................................................  12  Pre-­‐testing  of  instruments  ...................................................................................................  13  Data  analysis  .............................................................................................................................  14  Ethical  considerations  ...........................................................................................................  14  Summary  ....................................................................................................................................  15  

CHAPTER  FOUR:  DATA  ANALYSIS,  PRESENTATION  AND  INTERPRETATION  ..............................................................................................................................................  16  Introduction  ..............................................................................................................................  16  Response  rate  ...........................................................................................................................  16  Demographic  description  of  the  respondents  ...............................................................  17  Knowledge  on  factors  affecting  regional  integration  .................................................  18  Importance  of  having  one  language  in  a  community/  Having  Kiswahili  as  one  of  the  main  courses/subjects  in  learning  institutions.  ....................................................  19  Conclusion  and  summary  .....................................................................................................  20  

CHAPTER  FIVE:  DISCUSSION,  CONCLUSION  AND  RECOMMENDATION  .........  21  Introduction  ..............................................................................................................................  21  Discussion  ..................................................................................................................................  22  Conclusions  ...............................................................................................................................  22  Recommendations  ..................................................................................................................  23  

REFERENCES  .....................................................................................................................  25    

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CHAPTER  ONE

Introduction  Language is a system of communication, which can be written, spoken or structured

in any way, while regional integration is an agreement in which neighboring

states/countries agree to enhance corporation through common rules and institutions

etc.

The researcher is doing this study because regional integration is a very important

topic. Several organizations all over the world have tried to make integration possible

but failed. This has also been the case for The East African community, but its failure

was mainly political. According to this research, politics is not the main problem that

makes the East Africa Integration dream impossible because all the member countries

now have almost the same political ideologies. The aim of this research is to find the

main problem.

Regional integration needs a lot of factors such as the relationship between the

countries involved, geography and trade, for it to be successful and also brings in a lot

of benefits.

Background  to  the  study  

The East African countries have a lot in common already. A lot of research and

suggestions have been aired by other African scholars suggesting how The East

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African community can be succesful, with some of them listing the benefits to the

member countries.

In other studies, scholars have listed reasons why regional integration has not been

successful in Africa and East Africa. Some of the reasons are clearly stated in a paper

by African Development Bank, African Development Fund (2011),

Over the decade, civil wars, cross-border conflicts, social strife, and arms

trafficking have plagued Eastern Africa. Current security concerns in the

region include the volatile situation in Somalia, conflict in Darfur, stalemate

between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Djibouti-Eritrea conflict, piracy off the coast of

Somalia and the Gulf of Aden and some outstanding post-referendum issues

between Sudan and South-Sudan, including border demarcation and the status

of Abyei. There are also intermittent outburst of civil conflicts among the

various constituent islands of Comoros and restive situation along the border

between Rwanda and DR Congo. All these factors pose threat to private

investment in East Africa. So, it is vital for the countries to consolidate peace

and stability for deepening regional integration.

In all these studies, the researcher has not yet found one that based its arguments on

why language is important in integration. Furthermore, if all these people have

discovered the problem that Africans, or the East African community faces in

integrating its member countries, why is the East African community’s project still

stagnant?

In the current study, according to University Of Oslo (2014), Language refers to “a

system of communication,” and “verbal, physical, biologically innate, and a basic

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form of communication.” Campbell and Mailman (2014) define integration as “the

coming together of a group of countries to develop a formal agreement.”

In this research, the language that the researcher will base their argument on is

Kiswahili. On the other hand, regional integration failure can be caused by many

factors such as lack of proper planning, poor trade ties between the countries,

different political agendas e.t.c. but the researcher will mainly concentrate on

Language as the main factor.

Politics, trade and inter-regional relationships are very important but the question is,

is it possible to have all that without a common language?

Statement  of  the  problem  There is a critical factor affecting East Africa’s regional integration.

Purpose  of  the  study  The purpose of this study is to show the impact of having a common language

towards achieving regional integration, in this case, why we need Kiswahili as one of

the main languages in educational institutions with the view of helping to see the East

African community integration being a reality.

The study will show how incorporating Kiswahili as the main languages in

educational institutions can be a big step towards making the East African community

integration dream come true.

Objectives  The objectives of this study are:

1. To find out all factors affecting regional integration

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2. To find out the importance/benefits of regional integration

3. To investigate the relationship between language and regional integration.

Research  questions  

The following questions are to be adressed:

1. How does Language affect regional integration?

2. What will be the impact of using Kiswahili as one of the main languages in

learning institutions?

This study needs to be done because the East African community needs the answers

that will come out of it. It is based on the following assumptions:

1. East Africa will not be integrated because people view Kiswahili as an inferior

language.

2. Most people want to see the East Africa integration dream come true, but

don’t see the importance of Language (Kiswahili)

Justification  This study should be undertaken so as to find out how lack of a common language

affects regional integration. The study will show the relationship between language

and regional integration and also find possible ways to make the East African

Integration dream successful.

Significance  The East African community and Africa in general will benefit from this research

paper. East Africa’s success affects the neighbouring countries in a great way. The

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researcher hopes that the recommendations that will be provided in this paper will

make this possible.

Assumptions  This research is based on the following assumptions:

1. East Africa will not be integrated because people view Kiswahili as an inferior

language.

2. Most people want to see the East Africa integration dream come true, but do

not see the importance of Language (Kiswahili)

Scope  of  the  study  The study on ‘Language and Regional Integration: A Case Of Swahili and The East

African Community,’ will be conducted in Kenya on a period of one month using

focus group discussions. Questionnaires will however be administered to participants

who will not be present.

Limitations  and  Delimitations  

The researcher will face several limitations:

1. The researcher will pick two citizens from the following countries: Kenya,

Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. The answers from one person might

not be the general view of all the citizens of the same country.

2. Some Learning institutions are located very far from the researcher; hence he

will not be able to verify whether the person filling the questionnaire is the

one intended to do so or not.

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Summary  This study aims at getting the factors that affect regional integration. The researcher

hopes that its aim will be achieved.

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CHAPTER TWO

 Literature  review  

Unity is very important in our lives. In order for us to share what we have or get what

we need from others, we have to come together. Coming together means knowing

each other, living in the same neighborhoods or even doing business together, but we

cannot do all this without understanding each other.

Language is basically a system of communication, which can be written, spoken or

structured in any way. Regional integration on the other hand is an agreement in

which neighboring states/countries agree to enhance corporation through common

rules and institutions etc. In this case, these states usually have common goals,

political, economical or social.

Regional integration brings in a lot of benefits to the involved parties, but before the

countries/states decide to integrate, they need to have a lot in common. Jaime De

Melo, A. P. (1995), for example, state that in order to maximize on the benefits of

regional integration, the countries must be as similar as possible in their objectives.

They wrote on how Mexico hoped to benefit from the NAFTA, adding that

sometimes, these benefits or aims or regional integration can be one-sided.

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After the countries have established what they have in common, they need to work on

how they will benefit from coming together. According to Maurice W. Schiff (2003),

such benefits are: reducing barriers of trade, protecting rights of the members of the

countries equally by the governments, coming up with trade policies that will benefit

all members, etc.

Although Regional integration has very many benefits, it is affected by various factors

too. Some of the factors affecting regional integration are lack of commited

institutions i.e. courts that regulate the process, geography of the region, competition

for location of their industries, absence of a common currency, unequal distribution of

resourses and most important, lack of a common language. According to Simms

(2006),

political willingness of the region’s leaders is not enough to ensure successful

integration. Rather, successful regional integration requires a combination of

market forces and institutional forces. The market forces can be termed

demand factors11. On the other hand, the institutional forces can be termed

supply factors and these include the existence of a strong “regional leader” to

overcome “collective action problems” as well as the existence of

“commitment institutions” such as Courts to regulate and promote integration

(p.6).

Most scholars have decided to base their works on the financial factors, mainly, how

trade is affected by regional integration. Some of them have explained that inorder for

the people to trade, some of them will have to settle in the partner countries, and for

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some, it will not be an easy task. According to Maruping (2005), “there should be

effective compansatory financing agreenments to make the domestic costs of

adjustment affordable…and fully incorporate the effects of exogenous shocks such as

adverse weather, terms of trade, desease…”

I agree with their arguments that the financial factors, especially trade is very

important, and that each participating country will definitely have to make sure that

the citizens of the bloc settle. The question is, how will the people conduct business

without understanding each other?

The East African Community has been trying to achieve regional integration for a

while. However, they have encountered several problems in trying to do so, but the

main problem is the Language barrier. According to Wright (2000),

The lines between enemies with different languages are clearly drawn on

linguistic grounds and language difference reinforces whatever other sources

of discord there may be. It reduces contact to the single channel of diplomatic

negotiation through interpreters. It limits exchange between the two

populations to the formal and the mediated. It allows the distancing and

stereotyping which contributes to enemity (p.230).

Wright (2000) clearly shows how language can be a critical factor in regional

integration.

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Summary  of  the  chapter  and  conclusion  The East African community will need to ensure that its members are comfortable

with the integration idea, and will be able to carry on with their day-to-day duties

hassle free. In order to do this, a common language has to be used, and in this case,

Kiswahili is the most preferred option.

Kiswahili is a common language to all members of the bloc, but not every citizen can

use the language (speaking and writing fluently). Therefore, several measures have to

be taken in order for The East African Community to achieve their regional

integration goal. Kondlo (2014)’s strategy for promotion of swahili is a very

important one and can be useful to the East African Community. Though I will later

on base my research on the education sector (why swahili should be a compulsory

subject in institutions), Kondlo (2014) has other ways of promotion of the language,

other than just having the policy of Kiswahili promotion in schools such as promotion

of the language in social use etc.

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

Introduction  

This research’s aim is to show the relationship between language and

integration, together with finding the main reason behind the East Africa’s

integration. This chapter shows the methods that the researcher used in the study.

Research  Design  According to Maxwell & Mittapalli (2008), “The term explanatory

research implies that the research in question is intended to explain, rather than

simply to describe, the phenomena studied.”

This particular study will adopt the explanatory design to establish the main

issue affecting East African integration, and explain how it can be solved. Other than

that, this research design will be used because it will lay the groundwork that will lead

to future studies on the same topic.

Data  collection  instruments    Questionnaires and focus group discussions will be used to conduct the

survey. Questionnaires will be used for ‘objective one.’ In order to achieve ‘objective

two’ and ‘objective three,’ focus group discussions will be conducted.

Target Population

The target population of this study will be University students from all the

East African countries. The researcher is intending to pick one student from each East

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African country, though the answers from one person may not necessarily be the

general view of all the citizens of the same country. Part of the data collection

process will be conducted via the internet (email) since some Learning institutions are

located very far from the researcher; hence he will not be able to verify whether the

person filling the questionnaire is the one intended to do so or not.

The  Sampling  Method  Non-random (Convenience sampling) will be employed since it is almost

impossible to go through the records of all the learning institutions to determine

which specific students are from a particular East African Country. The researcher

will however have to verify that the students are from the said countries by asking for

their identification documents.

Sample  size  For this research, the researcher will need two students (male and female) from each

East African Country (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda). The

researcher will have to assume that their answers/ideas will represent the

answers/ideas of every other student from the same countries.

Data  Collection  procedure    According to Krueger (2002), “In a brief time the moderator must create a

thoughtful, permissive atmosphere, provide ground rules, and set the tone of the

discussion. Much of the success of group interviewing can be attributed to the

development of this open environment.”

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This study will use questionnaires sent by email to collect data from the

respondents who will not be able to be present for the focus group discussions. The

focus group discussions on the other hand will provide an atmosphere where the

respondents will freely discuss the topic.

Pre-­‐testing  of  instruments  According to Collins (2003),

Whether we are social researchers or epidemiologists, designing surveys or

clinical trials, we aim to provide results that are valid, reliable, sensitive,

unbiased and complete. In other words we want to be certain that our

questions measure the concepts or behaviours we want them to measure, that

the data produced represent 'true' values for these measures and do not

contain too much random variability, that our questions are sensitive enough

to measure important real differences or changes, and that our study covers

all the dimensions of the topic under investigation. (Pg.229)

The questionnaire was pre-tested on five Daystar University students from

each East African Country. The researcher made it clear to the students why the

study was being conducted. The student’s reactions and answers towards the

questions made the researcher to identify all the questions that were not framed in the

correct way. The researcher administered the questionnaire to five students to

represent five East African countries mentioned earlier in this study.

A focus group discussion, mainly for pre-testing purposes was also conducted

to identify any mistakes before the main intended discussion. The researcher

discovered that some students were not familiar with some of the terms used by the

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researcher hence there was a need to change them. There was also a need to change

the timing of the focus group discussion.

Data  analysis  Since the questionnaires will only be used for the students who will not be

able to be present for the focus group discussions, the main data will be derived from

the discussions conducted by the researcher. The researcher will go through the

recorded and typed answers from the discussions (together with the research

assistants), analyze them and come up with a conclusion based on them.

Ethical  considerations  The participants are from different backgrounds/cultures hence great care will

be taken to make sure that all the questions and words used do not insult, hurt or

disrespect any of them in any way. The participants will be given all the details they

will need to know about the research in order to make them aware of what they are

dealing with. This will be a voluntary process.

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Summary  In this chapter, the researcher’s aim is to use the best research design possible

to get the best answers possible. The next chapter will present the research findings

together with the presentation and interpretation of the findings.

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CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND

INTERPRETATION

Introduction   In this chapter, the researcher aims presenting data analysis and interpretation of

the same. The purpose of this study is to show the impact of having a common

language towards achieving regional integration, in this case, why we need Kiswahili

as one of the main languages in educational institutions with the view of helping to

see the East African community integration being a reality.

Response  rate   Out of the ten respondents that the researcher aimed to have present during the

focus group discussions, eight were present. The study successfully engaged the eight

respondents. Questionnaires were sent to the absent respondents as planned but were

not sent back in time. However, all targeted East African countries were represented

(See Table 1.1).

Table 1.1: Response rate

No. Country % Response

Present 8 Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi 80%

Absent 2 1(Rwanda), 1(Burundi) 20%

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Demographic  description  of  the  respondents  Country (Knowledge on regional integration)

Figure 1.2 presents the findings on the above subtopic. The majority of the

respondents, six out of the eight that were present (75%) had a basic idea of what

regional integration is, while 25% did not.

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Knowledge  on  factors  affecting  regional  integration  

Figure 1.3 presents the finding on how many of the respondents present during the

discussions had knowledge on the factors affecting regional integration.

These findings are related to the ones in figure 1.2 because one cannot know the

factors affecting regional integration if he or she does not even have an idea of what it

is.

The researcher however found this important because it is possible that one can have

an idea of what integration is but not know the factors affecting it. 30% knew of the

factors that affect regional integration.

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Importance  of  having  one  language  in  a  community/  Having  Kiswahili  as  one  of  the  main  courses/subjects  in  learning  institutions.  

The findings presented in figure 1.4 show what the respondents thought of having a

common language/ importance of a common language to a community (in this case, the

East African Community) and based on that, what they thought about having Kiswahili as

one of the main courses/subjects in their learning institutions.

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Conclusion  and  summary  

This chapter has provided a detailed analysis of the data that the researcher

collected for this study. According to the charts (Figure 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4), most of

the respondents knew about regional integration or had an idea of what it is.

Basically, they were interested, but did not know much about it, because they did not

know the factors affecting reagional integration.

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On the other hand, most of the respondents knew how important language is in a

community. During the focus group discussions they gave answers like ‘People in one

community cannot live in harmony with others in other communities if they do not

understand each other.’

However, Some were not comfortable with the idea of having Kiswahili as the

‘common language.’

These are some of the reasons:

1. It is not seriously taught in schools, so it also not important to them.

2. It sounded like a new language to them, since they did not use it at home.

In chapter four, the researcher will guide on the measures to be taken to avoid such

issues incase this reseach is taken into consideration.

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Introduction  This study sought to find out the relationship between language and regional

integration in relation to the East African community. This chapter will present a

summary of the findings and gives conclusions/recommendations

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Discussion  In this study, the researcher had three main objectives. The first Objective

was to find out all factors affecting regional integration. In this research’s literature

review, the some of the factors are stated but the researcher aimed at knowing

whether the respondents were aware of them, and to find out if there were more. From

the research findings, only 38% knew of the factors affecting regional integration.

However, majority of them had an idea of what regional integration is.

The second objective was to find out the importance of regional integration.

Majority of the respondents knew this to the point of sharing in-depth views on the

same, mostly on similarity of partner countries. De Melo, A. P. (1995), state “in order

to maximize on the benefits of regional integration, the countries must be as similar as

possible in their objectives”

The third objective was to investigate the relationship between language and

regional integration. Here, most of the respondents emphasized that language was

very important in communities, with some stating that ‘there can be no peace without

a common language’ However, they could not see the relationship between language

and regional integration because they did no0t even understand the whole regional

integration concept in the first place.

Conclusions  The respondents have a good level of knowledge. Although the views gotten from

them do not necessarily reflect the views of all East African citizens, they represent

them in a way. All the respondents were university students from the represented

countries and were all above 23 years old. The researcher assumed that they were old

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enough to discuss the topic and to be used to represent all mature East African

citizens.

From the results, it is clear that people know of what regional integration is, possibly

because they are educated and it is an English word available in the dictionary.

However, most of them do not know anything else apart from what regional

integration is.

According to the results, Tanzanian Citizens had the highest level of knowledge on

the topic, an indication that it is a serious issue to them, and is a priority in their

country, as one of the East African community’s member countries.

On the other hand, Uganda and Burundian citizens had the opposite.

Language was important to the respondents, and it was clear that this was not new to

them, possibly because the subject itself (importance of language) is a common topic

in many courses taught in educational institutions. However, they could not relate it to

regional integration.

Finally, they also brought in an idea that was not knew to the researcher: majority of

East African students do not quite like the idea of having Kiswahili as one of the core

courses taught in learning institutions, but were interested to learn.

Recommendations    The study has established that most East African citizens do not know of regional

integration despite of it being an important project to the East African community

(EAC). According to this research, the reasons are:

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1. The EAC has not Educated the East African citizens enough

2. The East African education system does not teach on the importance of

integration as far as The East African Integration is concerned

According to the researcher, the EAC should partner up with the East African

governments to make sure that its Integration plans are made clear to the citizens,

starting with the students.

In doing that, it can be incorporated in the syllabus, together with having a common

language as one of the main courses taught in the institutions as a way of making the

EAC’s plan successful.

Further, this common language, according to the researcher should be Kiswahili. The

main reasons are:

1. Kiswahili is a basically a Bantu language, and most of East African’s are

Bantu speaking. Having Kiswahili as one of the main languages taught in

institutions will not be a big problem to them since it will be easier to learn.

2. Kiswahili is the only language that can be used as a common language since it

is the most popular.

According to E.A.C (2014),

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The realization of a large regional economic bloc encompassing

Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda with a combined

population of more than 130 million people (2010*), land area of 1.82

million sq. kilometers and a combined Gross Domestic Product of

$74.5 billion (2009*), bears great strategic and geopolitical

significance and prospects of a renewed and reinvigorated East African

Community.

These Millions of people speak different languages, and having a foreign

language introduced to them will not bear fruit.

Kiswahili attracts millions all over the world. We now have Kiswahili radio and TV

stations in China, Japan etc. Other than that, it is a rule in some countries that all

international students enroll in their compulsory home-language courses. According

to the researcher, this fosters peace and strengthens the language used.

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Maxwell,  J.,  &  Mittapalli,  K.  (2008).  Explanatory  Research.  From  Sage  Research  Methods:  http://srmo.sagepub.com/  

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