Bunge committee lauds ICT Commission for marketing Kiswahili

DODOMA: THE Parliamentary Committee on Infrastructure has praised the Information and Communication Technology Commission for its efforts in advancing the sector in the country, especially for its initiatives in marketing Kiswahili globally.

The remarks were made in Dodoma yesterday by the Committee Chairperson, Moshi Kakoso, while the committee was receiving the implementation report from the ICT Commission, presented by its Director-General, Dr Nkundwe Mwasaga.

In his presentation, Dr Mwasaga highlighted the significant achievements within the commission, one of which include reaching an agreement with ALMAWAVE, an Italian company specializing in language processing, to develop a Kiswahili language model that will enable artificial intelligence systems to communicate like humans.

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He mentioned that the company would collaborate with the ICT Commission and various institutions in the country to create the Swahili Large Language Model (LLM), which will facilitate the growth of Kiswahili in the field of artificial intelligence worldwide.

“This will create opportunities for Tanzanians to use Kiswahili in innovative ways across various sectors of Tanzania’s economy, Africa, and globally. This will greatly expand the Kiswahili market and strengthen Tanzania’s digital economy,” said Dr Mwasaga.

The cooperation agreement was signed in 2024 during the 8th National ICT Conference (TAIC 2024) in Dar es Salaam. The annual conference attracted over 4,000 participants both locally and internationally, including UK, the United Nations, UNESCO, UNICEF, the European Union (Estonia, Finland, Italy, Germany, Turkey, and Belgium), South Africa, the African Union, East African countries, Russia, India, and China.

The Committee Moshi Kakoso, expressed his joy of the report, stating that, “Let’s embrace these opportunities. We have a large population, which is a huge market. It may seem like a small thing, but neighboring countries are benefiting greatly from Kiswahili. We speak Kiswahili fluently, but others are benefiting more from the language. Let’s say No to that.”

“Let’s ensure that Kiswahili brings even more benefits to our country,” said Kakoso.

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