Foreign
TANZANIA’s Ministry of Constitutional and Legal Affairs has given guidelines to all government ministries and institutions over the translation of 450 laws from English into Kiswahili, an official said on Monday.
Hassan Abbasi, the government’s chief spokesman, who said this while addressing a news conference in the capital Dodoma, added that the translation will be completed by December 2021.
The ministry released the guidelines after the Tanzanian Parliament in February approved Kiswahili as the official language of the laws and the language used in the administration and dispensation of justice.
The bill approved by the lawmakers said the use of Kiswahili in-laws of the country would facilitate access to justice for all Tanzanians.
He said the translation of the laws would go in tandem with the translation of more than 15,000 regulations, which is expected to be completed by June 2022.
Abbasi, who doubles as the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts, and Sports, urged the National Kiswahili Council to fully participate in the translation of the laws.
The chief spokesman urged linguistic and law experts from various ministries to coordinate with officials from the National Kiswahili Council, a state-run institution responsible for regulating and promoting the Kiswahili language, in the translation process.
In February 2021, President John Magufuli called for amendments to the laws and regulations to accommodate Kiswahili as the language in the delivery of court judgments.
Magufuli asked the Judiciary and the ministry to make necessary amendments to the existing laws to incorporate the national language, Kiswahili, in judicial matters.
He said it was important to deliver court judgments at all levels in Kiswahili, which is a common language to all Tanzanians.
The president said it was dismaying that 60 years after independence, the Judiciary of Tanzania has continued to write and deliver judgments in English, which is a colonial inherited system. (Xinhua/NAN)
– Mar. 8, 2021 @ 17:35 GMT |
Tags: Tanzania to translate more than 400 laws into Kiswahili
