Nakuru Clerk Sends Court Into Laughter After Struggling To Translate The Word Overseas To Kiswahili: "Majuu"

• English and Kiswahili are official languages in Kenya and therefore are permissible in public spaces, including courts
• Courts usually have clerks who are able to translate charge sheet details and other court proceedings into languages that parties understand well
• The clerk was translating charge details in the case levelled against Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago and others linked to the Finland scholarship scandal

Laughter brings people together, eases tension and makes even the most tense situation feel smooth and easy.

Jackson Mandago in court

On Thursday, August 17, when Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago and three other suspects were arraigned over theft and abuse of office in Nakuru, the courtroom was silent and all in attendance wore serious faces.

Being legal places where justice is administered, courts do their best to ensure anyone charged, testifying or complaining gets to understand the proceedings.

To achieve this fairness, magistrates, judges, advocates and prosecutors always ensure that charges, testimonies or verdicts are communicated in languages that the parties in the matter understand.

What is official language in Kenya?

It is for this reason that most, if not all courts have clerks who understand diverse languages, and who help translate court proceedings from English, Kenya's official language to other languages like Kiswahili, also a national language and many others.

When Mandago and his co-accused appeared before Nakuru Senior Principal Magistrate Alloys Ndege, a clerk tasked with translating charge details from English to Kiswahili caught the attention of those in attendance with his brilliant real time translation skills.

The clerk was doing excellently in his translation until he met the word overseas, which gave him a hard time, prompting him to adopt its sheng (Kenyan Kiswahili-English slang) version to the excitement of those in court.

English into Kiswahili translations

"Guys mad respect goes to this court clerk at the Nakuru Law Courts. He cracked up the entire court when he was unable to translate 'overseas' on the charge sheet. Btw the charge sheet is written in English he is doing real-time translation," Brygettes Ngana a Kenyan journalist, captioned a video capturing the moment.

The clerk's translation, however, did not put him in an awkward position as another person in court came to his rescue and, helping him get the right translation for the word overseas which is ng'ambo or ughaibuni.

For the lovers of the Kiswahili language, especially brethren from the Luhya community, can easily use vocabulary like ughaibuni to mean overseas.

Mandago denied the charges leveled against him and was given a bond of KSh 2 million ahead of the trial in the matter involving aborted scholarships for Kenyan students to study in Finland and Canadian universities.