The President of Kenya, William Ruto, has backtracked on his recent remarks suggesting that Nigerian-accented English was incomprehensible, stressing that his comments were taken out of context.
Speaking at a mining conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, attended by Nigeria’s Minerals Minister, Dele Alake, who earlier jokingly raised the issue, Ruto took to the stage to explain that the comments were made during a private meeting.
“And the people of Nigeria have mandated me to inform you and assure you that Nigerians speak good English,” Alake stressed.
But insisting that ‘’somebody misrepresented the facts,” Ruto reminded the audience at the mining development conference that Nigerians were his in-laws. One of his daughters, June, is married to a Nigerian businessman.
Ruto had faced a barrage of criticism, especially online, after he seemingly boasted about how Kenya’s education system was producing some of the best human capital in the world, with strong English proficiency.
“We speak some of the best English in the world, that is true. If you listen to a Nigerian speaking, you don’t know what they are saying. You need a translator even when they are speaking English,” he stated.
While Nigeria has more than 500 languages which have largely shaped its intonation, Kenya’s Bantu, Nilotic and Cushitic mix gave rise to its own accents.
Ruto said rather jokingly that he was expecting that there would be no consequences from his in-laws (Nigerians) after the backlash from the remarks he made last week while meeting with Kenyans in Italy.
While explaining his position, Ruto emphasised that the whole of Africa speaks good English, stressing that if one doesn’t speak excellent English in countries like Nigeria, they will need a translator.
“I was captured, I was speaking to my fellow citizens somewhere and somebody… It was supposed to be a private conversation, but somebody decided that it should be public. But they also misrepresented the facts.
“The facts are that I was talking about how we in Africa speak very good English. All of us. In fact, in some countries like Nigeria, if you don’t speak excellent English, like the one we speak in Kenya, you may need a translator for you to understand the excellent English of Nigeria.
“ So that was the comparison by somebody who decided to take it out of context. But I think it is as well that we can have this conversation. And my in-laws, I hope there will be no consequences,” Ruto stated.
Emmanuel Addeh
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