Examining Eac Strategies for Forging a Common Identity Among The Citizenry: A Comparative Study of The Promotion of The Eac Anthem and Kiswahili In Uganda

The aim of this study is to examine the strategies of crafting a common identity among the EAC citizenry applied by the East African Community. It is premised on a comparison between the East African Anthem and Kiswahili policies that have been adopted by the Government of Uganda. The study was carried out in the Republic of Uganda with the aim of ascertaining why popularisation of the EAC anthem was a success whilst Kiswahili language is stalling. The study addresses three issues that is, identifying factors that affect the choice of policies for popularisation at the national level; examining the strategies for popularisation of the EAC anthem and Kiswahili by the government of Uganda and determining how the EAC could leverage from the lessons drawn from the success of popularisation of the EAC anthem. The study was made up of 44 randomly selected participants that took a leading role in the formulation, coordination and implementation and promotion of EAC anthem and Kiswahili. Interviews, document review and focus group discussion are the techniques used to collect data. The findings revealed that the parameters for implementing and promoting the anthem are different from those of Kiswahili. Given the musical connotations of the anthem, the findings revealed that, the success of policy implementation and promotion requires a joint effort from the policymakers and policy implementers. It has been genuinely maintained by policymakers and policy implementers that, the government of Uganda is in a position to establish and support the promotion of Kiswahili through use of the strategies used to promote the EAC anthem. The study proposes alternative ways in which Kiswahili language could be promoted in Uganda such as; having an official EAC day across the six partner states, having Kiswahili as a compulsory subject in primary, secondary and tertiary level among others. Key words:Common identity, East African Community, EAC anthem, Kiswahili Popularisation Strategies and Policy implementation.