Hiiraan Online
Saturday, February 13, 2016
MOGADISHU (HOL) – Somalia’s government has warned business people in Mogadishu to take down billboards, signboards and banners containing advertisements written in English, in a new drive aimed at promoting the country’s Somali language which is struggling against the growing
influence of foreign languages, mainly English.
Last month, Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud who led celebrations to commemorate the adoption of the standard written Somali language has instructed government institutions must use Somali as official language of communication” rather than using foreign languages.
“Business people in Mogadishu are hereby instructed to remove all billboards or messages written in English. This directive’s objective is to defend the Somali language.” said Abdifatah Halane, a spokesperson for the Mogadishu’s local government on Thursday.
Mogadishu districts’ commissioners have already started implementing the directive, warning that any business person who fails to comply with it would be fined.
The directive has received mixed reactions from the businessmen, with some argued that the decision by the local government was a ‘kneejerk’ one, and called for the government to ban schools from teaching English classes as the first course of action to moderate the English language.
In an effort to empower Somali language against other languages, president Mohamud had earlier called for the re-building and celebration of historical and cultural monuments, including museums, libraries and national commemoration monuments destroyed during the civil war.
Written 40 years ago, Somali language is the official language of Somalia, a national language in Djibouti, and a working language in the Somali region of Ethiopia.