Kenyan leader sparks uproar after mocking Nigerians’ spoken English2 hours agoWycliffe MuiaNairobiReutersKenyan President William Ruto has faced a social media backlash after publicly suggesting that Nigerian-accented English was incomprehensible and required a translator. Ruto told Kenyans in Italy that if you listen to Nigerians speak, you won’t understand what they are saying. You need a translator His remarks were harshly condemned by Nigerians and Africans online, who accused him of demeaning another African nation. Hopewell Chin’ono wrote that “English is not a measure for intelligence, capability or national progress, but a colonial-era language.” Both Kenya and Nigeria, as former British colonies, share English as their official language. However, each country has developed its own spoken varieties, with different phonetic structure. “Our education is excellent. Our English is good. We speak some of best English in the World. Listening to a Nigerian, you won’t understand what they are saying. “You need a translator, even when they speak English,” he said. The room laughed. “We have the best human resources anywhere in the globe. Ruto said that we just need to improve it through more training. Many users have condemned the Kenyan leader’s remarks for displaying a “deep inferiority complicated rooted in colonial conditioning”. Shehu Sani, a former Nigerian senator, posted on X that Ruto was mocking the English of his country by a Nobel Prize for The exchanges usually revolve around pop culture, sport, and economic comparisons. More recently, they have also included political remarks. While Ruto didn’t make There has been no official response from Ruto’s government, but some Kenyans have defended him online, arguing that critics have misunderstood the intent of his remarks and missed the humour.You may also be interested in: Women secretly filmed, then ridiculed and abused online’They told me he was dead’: Children born near army base learn truth about UK soldier dadsRationing power and diluting petrol – how African countries are coping with effects of Iran warOne ant for $220: The new frontier of wildlife traffickingGetty Images/BBCGo to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafricaBBC Africa podcastsFocus on AfricaThis Is AfricaKenyaNigeriaAfrica
