Years ago I boarded a flight from Bangalore, India to Bombay, now
Mumbai.
The man sat next to me started chatting and then he said: "Thank
goodness for colonialism."
I was stunned by his statement and I moved into combat mode to take
him on.
But then I had second thoughts and sat back and listened.
"You see if it was not for colonialism and the British in this case,
you, an African, and I, an Indian, would not have been able to
communicate and have a good conversation."
What could I say?
More than 50 years since sub-Saharan Africa started down the road to
independence and self governance, we have continued to conduct our
affairs in the languages of the colonialists.
Business talks
For a long time there appeared to be parity between French and
English, with Portuguese of course spoken in territories that were
ruled by Portugal.
Despite the gathering of many African leaders over the weekend in the
Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa, for the Francophonie
summit of French-speaking countries, there is no getting away from the
reality that English has finally won the day and is now the
international language.
It is a reality that the more nimble Francophone leaders have come to
see as the way to boost the prospects of their countries in an
increasingly global world, a world dominated by the mighty United
States.
As I travel around Africa from Mozambique to Senegal, I have noticed
the increasing use of English.
Rwanda's move to adopt English as an official language was initially
seen as a result of many of the country's post-genocide leaders having
returned home from Uganda where they had been educated in English, the
main medium of education.
However, the country did not stop there.
As a Commonwealth official, I well remember the frisson that went
round the room when it was first mentioned that President Paul Kagame
wanted his country to join the Commonwealth, as well as being a member
of Francophonie.
What would the French say, some asked?
Yet Rwanda persisted and was not only seen as a bit of a darling for
countries such as the United Kingdom, which has supported the
government with financial assistance but the country has also formed
strong relationships, particularly in business, through the
Commonwealth.
In three of the five members of the East African community of which
Rwanda is a member, business is mostly conducted in English.
Seeing the success of Rwanda has triggered interest in its neighbour
Burundi, a French-speaking country which too has signalled its wish to
join the Commonwealth.
I expect English will soon become a must language for all students.
Such is the power of the US and its economy that anyone who wants a
piece of the action has to speak the language of the mighty dollar.
Africans wanting to become global players appear to be bowing to this
dictum.
There is little that I admire about the colonial era, and the recent
revelations in a British court about the tortures and horror colonial
officers visited on some Kenyans in their fight against the Mau Mau,
tell you a lot about the so-called civilised world.
Yet for all that, there is no getting away from the fact that we will
continue using the languages of the colonialists but increasingly that
language will be English.
I have come to agree with my travelling companion on that flight in
India all those years ago.
After all in most cases, it is still one of the foreign languages that
I have to use to speak to my sister or brother from another part of
Africa.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19961671
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