The Government through the Ministry of Sports and Culture has come up with a programme with a view to promote local talents.
Speaking to the press in Busia on Friday, Chief Administrative Secretary for Sports and Culture, Hassan Noor Hassan said the programme, dubbed ‘Poetry After Lunch’ (PAL), would help in promoting local languages and culture.
Noor pointed out that Kenyans were losing their local languages to sheng and other languages.
“We are looking for oral literature and poems in local languages in preparation for a major event to be launched soon in the country,” he said.
He added that the move was to ensure that Kenyans could express themselves in mother tongue in poetry, prose and all the cultures which goes with local languages.
“We therefore expect a lot of recitations and presentations in the local dialect here,” he said encouraging people to use local languages in expressing themselves.
The official argued that people could understand themselves easily through local languages as opposed to English and Kiswahili.
“We need these local talents to be nurtured at a very early stage so that the youth can be able to speak mother tongue fluently even at higher levels of education.
The Talent Development Officer from Kenya Cultural Centre, Kennedy Odongo said that spoken word poetry has enabled Kenyan youth to be absorbed in local Television Stations to promote local content.
“That’s why we are happy to see young boys and girls here in Busia reciting poems,” he said, adding that they would enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with Busia County government to ensure that the programme is a success.
“We will look for a freely accessible place so that artists are not called upon to part with any form of payment,” he said.
The team has so far visited five counties namely Embu, Meru, Kisumu, Lodwar and Busia and has future plans to traverse all the 47 Counties.
By Salome Alwanda