Uganda Elected to chair the Language Association of Eastern Africa
By Kitts Mabonga
KAMPALA
Uganda has been elected to chair the Language Association of Eastern Africa (LAEA) ,a body that brings together regional Universities with the mandate to carry out research in promoting and protecting the African languages.
Now have a task of sensitizing the EAC member states citizens on the potential benefits embedded in protecting, preserving and carrying out more research in an effort of promoting traditional African Languages and heritage as a deliberate tool for promoting communication and development both within Africa and beyond.
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The two-day 3rd Association annual general meeting held at Makerere University last week saw Makerere University being elected unanimously to chair and oversee the Association activities for 2023/2025 replacing Kenya.
Prof Edith Natukunda Togboa retiring and outgoing senior lecturer at Makerere University School of literature, languages and communications (SLLC) took over the mantle of leading the Association from Dr Sikuku Justin from Moi University Kenya who has been at the helm of the body since its inception in 2019.
Prof Natukunda shall work with Prof.Amani from the University of Dar es Salaam Tanzania as vice president, Prof. Jane Gala Odwor secretary and Lean Kisembe as treasurer from Moi University as well as several committee members respectively.
The members elected the University of Dodoma in Tanzania as host for the 2025 conference respectively.
Speaking while presiding over the closure of the meeting, the Rwanda high commissioner to Uganda Joseph Rutabona congratulated Prof. Natukunda upon being elected to that important office saying that the EAC member states should support Universities in the EAC block and beyond to continue carrying out research in the African languages.
Rutabona said that the endorsements reached will be very crucial for policy advocacy and that more attention and space should be accorded to the African languages for sustainable development.
‘Am proud to be associated and linked to this very important conference themed as ’empowering communities through languages research in African linguistics, for sustainable development” especially that I was here at Makerere University 30years ago and incidentally Prof.Natukunda being my lecturer when I studied. Political science and French'” elaborated the envoy.
Dr. Sikuku as outgoing president said the meeting was aimed at enhancing research on African language of which they have done a lot by empowering post graduate students and earlier career researchers through workshops and seminars so that they can study African languages with the aim of producing and disseminating knowledge about the same.
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While making her acceptance speech, Natukunda pledged to work with colleagues in helping build capacity, develop capacities, strengthen practitioners and researchers especially African languages in the Eastern Africa region as well as build bridges to other Associations interested in areas of languages.
‘It is going to be our mandate to work with others to build institutions which are strong because advocacy for African languages must be strong and that given that they have historical roots which have for a long-time privileged languages of the global North, it was therefore time to start advocacy for African languages by building and taking advantage of the strong networks set up by other Associations and bodies’ she noted.
Participants came from over 17 countries among them Israel, Germany, USA, UK, Spain, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia among others with most of them sending in renown researches in African linguistics respectively End