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The Colonial Hangover: How Kenya’s Parliament Is Suppressing African Culture
TLDR at the bottom
The evils that were meted to the Bukusu nation by the colonialists are something my old man, Grandpa Richard, would like to forget. But the octogenarian has held onto those memories and occasionally passes them to his grandchildren, for he believes steadfastly that we shouldn’t forget history, even if we could. That’s because, he believes, history is always our best teacher and should we forget it, then we are doomed to repeat it.
My grandfather shudders whenever he recalls how the white man denigrated and chiselled away at the community’s identity. First, they were forced to abandon their religions as mandates were imposed forcing people to attend church services regularly. There, their names were tossed into the trashcan and replaced by meaningless English monikers.
When it came to appearance, the people of Bungoma were brainwashed into believing that white is intelligent, beautiful, and superior. Everything they had known prior to the mzungu invasion was now categorized as savage and subhuman. Natural African attire became dumb, primitive, and ugly. Africans who toed the line and did everything they could to pass as white were rewarded by the colonial system for turning their backs on traditional accoutrements. It was a sad state of affairs.
I wish I could say that more than half a century since independence, Kenyans have found a way to reclaim their culture. If a recent proclamation by National Assembly Speaker Moses Francis Masika Wetangula is anything to go by, then nothing has changed, and we still use our old European masters as the golden standard when it comes to beauty and outward appearance.
I listened in horror as Mr. Wetangula read an edict that forbade “African” and “traditional clothing” from being worn by legislators in the chambers and around parliament buildings. The Friends School Kamusinga alumnus went a step further to warn that he would not tolerate any male MP that deigns it fit to do their job free the stranglehold of a tie around their necks and a European-style jacket draped over their torsos.
It is sad—and extremely depressing that the Kenyan parliament is letting itself succumb to such self-loathing. Rather than seek to dismantle the psychosis brought upon us by colonialism, the speaker of the national assembly has instead chosen to deepen it. The late Bob Marley must have had Mr. Wetangula in mind when he urged us to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery.
You might be tempted to cut the former Bungoma Senator some slack by arguing that the dress code for parliamentarians is sacrosanct and written in the black letter of the law. But this is simply not the case. How our legislators dress has always been under the discretion of the speaker of the house. Time and time again, they have chosen the ideologically stunted option that we should all be dumb copies of the West.
But it is 2023, and even the Europeans whom we so desperately crave to pass as are dispensing with archaic dress code traditions for their leaders. Nobody is being thrown out in the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the British Parliament, for not wearing a tie. Even the United States Senate recently woke up and smelt the coffee. The requirement of wearing a jacket and a tie in the chamber has been ended to allow members to express their personal and cultural styles.
Back in 2021, an MP was ejected from the New Zealand parliament for choosing to wear regalia that reflected his Māori heritage. A tie, the MP said, was a symbol of his people’s oppression. The backlash that his ejection caused was sharp and immediate, causing the New Zealand parliament to change its laws so as not to diminish people’s cultures. I call upon Kenyan legislators to draw inspiration from this Māori legislator and fight back against the white supremacy and Eurocentricity that is being forced upon them.
Mr. Wetangula’s argument is that he is striving to preserve the dignity and honour of the August House by banning traditional African attire. The notion that something African cannot be dignified and honourable is nauseating and makes my stomach churn. The speaker should focus more on the contents of the legislator’s character if dignity and honour are what he is after. We all know that he presides over a house full of convicted criminals, mafioso, knuckleheads, thugs, and illiterates. There’s nothing honourable about our thieving, lying and ravenous political elite, and putting on a suit won’t make them more dignified.
I take heart in the fact that at 67, Mr Wetangula and his ilk might soon be handing over the reins to a newer and more enlightened generation of leaders. We are experiencing a renaissance of African culture, and my generation will not shut their brains and continue pledging fealty to the myths of white beauty. This is a current that the emerging young leaders will vehemently swim against. We will embrace everything that makes us proud of our cultures and heritage. This dark chapter of cultural mutilation, I promise you, will soon be behind us.
TLDR: Speaker Wetangula's decision to ban African attire from parliament reeks of Colonial hangovers. We can certainly do more to integrate African culture in our leadership.
#local
source
TLDR at the bottom
The evils that were meted to the Bukusu nation by the colonialists are something my old man, Grandpa Richard, would like to forget. But the octogenarian has held onto those memories and occasionally passes them to his grandchildren, for he believes steadfastly that we shouldn’t forget history, even if we could. That’s because, he believes, history is always our best teacher and should we forget it, then we are doomed to repeat it.
My grandfather shudders whenever he recalls how the white man denigrated and chiselled away at the community’s identity. First, they were forced to abandon their religions as mandates were imposed forcing people to attend church services regularly. There, their names were tossed into the trashcan and replaced by meaningless English monikers.
When it came to appearance, the people of Bungoma were brainwashed into believing that white is intelligent, beautiful, and superior. Everything they had known prior to the mzungu invasion was now categorized as savage and subhuman. Natural African attire became dumb, primitive, and ugly. Africans who toed the line and did everything they could to pass as white were rewarded by the colonial system for turning their backs on traditional accoutrements. It was a sad state of affairs.
I wish I could say that more than half a century since independence, Kenyans have found a way to reclaim their culture. If a recent proclamation by National Assembly Speaker Moses Francis Masika Wetangula is anything to go by, then nothing has changed, and we still use our old European masters as the golden standard when it comes to beauty and outward appearance.
I listened in horror as Mr. Wetangula read an edict that forbade “African” and “traditional clothing” from being worn by legislators in the chambers and around parliament buildings. The Friends School Kamusinga alumnus went a step further to warn that he would not tolerate any male MP that deigns it fit to do their job free the stranglehold of a tie around their necks and a European-style jacket draped over their torsos.
It is sad—and extremely depressing that the Kenyan parliament is letting itself succumb to such self-loathing. Rather than seek to dismantle the psychosis brought upon us by colonialism, the speaker of the national assembly has instead chosen to deepen it. The late Bob Marley must have had Mr. Wetangula in mind when he urged us to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery.
You might be tempted to cut the former Bungoma Senator some slack by arguing that the dress code for parliamentarians is sacrosanct and written in the black letter of the law. But this is simply not the case. How our legislators dress has always been under the discretion of the speaker of the house. Time and time again, they have chosen the ideologically stunted option that we should all be dumb copies of the West.
But it is 2023, and even the Europeans whom we so desperately crave to pass as are dispensing with archaic dress code traditions for their leaders. Nobody is being thrown out in the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the British Parliament, for not wearing a tie. Even the United States Senate recently woke up and smelt the coffee. The requirement of wearing a jacket and a tie in the chamber has been ended to allow members to express their personal and cultural styles.
Back in 2021, an MP was ejected from the New Zealand parliament for choosing to wear regalia that reflected his Māori heritage. A tie, the MP said, was a symbol of his people’s oppression. The backlash that his ejection caused was sharp and immediate, causing the New Zealand parliament to change its laws so as not to diminish people’s cultures. I call upon Kenyan legislators to draw inspiration from this Māori legislator and fight back against the white supremacy and Eurocentricity that is being forced upon them.
Mr. Wetangula’s argument is that he is striving to preserve the dignity and honour of the August House by banning traditional African attire. The notion that something African cannot be dignified and honourable is nauseating and makes my stomach churn. The speaker should focus more on the contents of the legislator’s character if dignity and honour are what he is after. We all know that he presides over a house full of convicted criminals, mafioso, knuckleheads, thugs, and illiterates. There’s nothing honourable about our thieving, lying and ravenous political elite, and putting on a suit won’t make them more dignified.
I take heart in the fact that at 67, Mr Wetangula and his ilk might soon be handing over the reins to a newer and more enlightened generation of leaders. We are experiencing a renaissance of African culture, and my generation will not shut their brains and continue pledging fealty to the myths of white beauty. This is a current that the emerging young leaders will vehemently swim against. We will embrace everything that makes us proud of our cultures and heritage. This dark chapter of cultural mutilation, I promise you, will soon be behind us.
TLDR: Speaker Wetangula's decision to ban African attire from parliament reeks of Colonial hangovers. We can certainly do more to integrate African culture in our leadership.
#local
source
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