Kenya’s parliament has sparked controversy by instituting a ban on the iconic Kaunda suit, named after the late Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, within its premises. Speaker of Parliament Moses Wetangula announced that both Kaunda suits and traditional African attire were no longer permissible.
The Kaunda suit, distinguished by a safari jacket and matching trousers, owes its name to President Kaunda, who played a pivotal role in making it a fashion statement. The attire has gained popularity among the political elite, with Kenyan President William Ruto often choosing it for official events.
Speaker Wetangula justified the ban by citing emerging fashion trends that posed a challenge to the established parliamentary dress code. He outlined a prescribed dress code for men, including a coat, collar, tie, long-sleeved shirt, long trousers, socks, shoes, or service uniform. Women were advised to adhere to business, formal, or smart casual wear, with skirts and dresses below knee-length and sleeveless blouses prohibited.
While acknowledging past tolerance of the Kaunda suit in parliament, Wetangula emphasized the need to halt this practice to preserve the parliamentary dress code. The recent attention garnered by the Kaunda suit on Kenyan social media, especially due to President Ruto’s frequent appearances in it during official functions, adds an extra layer to the controversy.
The ban has triggered mixed reactions on social media, with some questioning the prohibition of an African attire in an African parliament. Others express support for maintaining a specified dress code. The controversy surrounding the Kaunda suit ban reflects the intersection of cultural expression, fashion, and political symbolism, sparking discussions about the significance of attire within the context of parliamentary proceedings.
The world is surprised that HH never want to adopt “Kaunda Suits” which are now selling like hot cake on Amazon.
Its news world over.
Yes they are calling them Kaunda Suits even on CNN and BBC.
KK suits? as if he invented them
Fashion is fashion
Safari suits will never resurface
No need of dragging HH into this topic Nostradamus just kometi on Kanye.
They would rather wear their colonial masters suits and wigs or should we say the colonials have pulled the strings to snooker Africa again.
It reminds me of that useless song by this boy Yo Maps and his Malawian friend where he sings that his neighbour is a Muzungu and his money is bazungu money,typical slave mentality!
Typical African and slave mentality…..if those were George Bush’s suits or Ronald Reagan”s suits the house negroee Kenyan speaker would have welcomed them and he would have brought 10 for himself
You will always be African and a Slave amongst yourselves
If you want to go further why do you wear western suits and other fashions ?
look at our women everything western
SO ?????
When the white man began his mission to rule the world he used the mind of the slave to enslave the slave. He told the black man for you to be civilised you must look like me. Wear a tie and Jacket when I call you for a meeting and have a European name because all civilised people are identified by what they wear and what they call themselves. Most Africans agreed because the white man had conquered their chiefs and cultures and customs. Even the churches enforced what they saw as civilised dress and forced their names upon the African.
The African was mentally colonised and even when the colonialist left he policed himself according to European rules. He now looks for the white man to approve all his actions. The Kenyan Speaker and plenty of Zambian politicians are among many mentally enslaved Africans. He needs to emancipate himself from mental slavery. He should read African freedom fighters like Marcus Garvey who proclaims that only you can free your own mind. Noone will declare for you that you are now free of mental enslavement
It would be trending like nobody’s business
We have wealth right under our feet but we need a white man to come and dig it out, make money out of it and then we go and beg for crumbs.
Now it’s our own suit that has fallen victim. Is it part of IMF conditions that you should only wear western type of attire to qualify for withdraws?
@Deja Vu We are waiting for the white man to give us the green light. We are scared of attempting to do what civilised people endeavour to do because thats not for us but for them. The coloniser is still ruling our minds.
Lame-brains like DejaFOOOL dont realize that the so-called western culture is an amalgamation of various world cultures including African.Western culture has immensely enriched itself by adopting and assimilating elements of other cultures.BBQ is from India,Bumshorts are from the caribean islands. .Many foods,music,fashions and hairstyles are of African invention.Even the so-called twerking is Zambian “Bombola Matako”
They will improve on your inventions and bring them to you and you don’t recognize them.You will even laugh at some Africans using them
Western Culture like all cultures can be said to be an almagamation. It may have incorporated certain aspects from other cultures but it has its own identity. Cultures do incorporate each others’ traits but if you do a research you will find that European cultures have all along deliberately insulated themselves from African culture because the whites had a superiority complex. Thats why white people didnt adopt African names yet they imposed their names on us.
When Zambia and Tanzania, under Kaunda and Nyerere, were freeing Southern Africa, these Kenyans were missing from action, or rather, they were serving their function as an outpost of the CIA. Imagine banning African attire in an African parliament. How stupid can you be. Anyway forget them. What we Zambians need to do is to call out Hakainde Hichilema for 2 bullsh!t things he said and did. 1) He referred to KK as a dictator when Kamala Harris was Zambian. Yes, the same Kaunda that took him from a village head boy and gave him the free education that allowed him to be a millionaire, or maybe even billionaire 2) Taking 20, 000 acres of Zambian land and giving them to Kenya and Rwanda each? Which Zambians did he evict from that land???????
This is Africa the land of Africans.Total confusion yama
It is not Kaunda suit, but Safari Suit. It is people who called it as Kaunda Suit because he was wearing it most of the time, partly avoiding a tie (inkolo).
There were some subtle changes. The safari suit was from khaki with shorts and long socks. The KK suit,
also called Nyerere suit, was out of different linen and never in khaki colour except for boys’ schooluniforms, was with trousers and a scarf.
It is important to note that Parliament is NOT a Safari. However, Parliament should be treated as it deserves because is a place of serious business for national development, therefore, MPs and others must be seen as gentlemen and the lady.
You mean you can only discuss seriously when you wear a suit?
Petty Petty
@Muzambian .. I repeat your father made a grave mistake not to wear a condom
I thought Kenya was doing a good job at educating its people. What an embarrassment this Speaker of the Kenyan Parliament is!
Order Order honorable Gunner
Order, Order, Order..
..Lest you are slapped with 30 days suspension. No chitenge. No Safari attire. Is that not what Jomo Kenyatta wore? Kenya is shedding off the Oriental tag line.
That’s their own sovereign prerogative. If they want they can choose to introduce a new dress code of nakedness. There was nothing african about that attire after all. African attire was animal skin. Why is this news upnd LT? Can you report on the shocking dollar rate. Eeeembwa
That is being narrow-minded. African attire was not and has never been uniform. Africans like any humans dressed according to climate. Those in cold areas outside the tropics wore wool and heavy skin like the Sothos do. Those in the equatorial region preferred stuff like shukas which Maasai wear Indeed the fact that the white man came with his own style doesnt mean there are colonial rules on what you can make out of the fabric he had. In West Africa they created BouBous. All progressive societies will create their own out of whatever they adapt.
RUN RABBIT RUN
“Speaker of Parliament Moses Wetangula” That first name says it all.
Moses? Why Moses? I have never seen a single whiteman called Wetangula but African slaves think they can transform into their masters by adopting their colonisers’ names!
And by using Ambi. Is it Jarubi?
@ Deja Vu
Imagine we are begging a white to come and dig wealth for us and then we spend millions globetrotting going to beg the same white man to give us breadcrumbs….shocking isn’t it and am sure the Kenyan Speaker would Allow someone wearing a Gucci T shirt and Louis Vuitton shorts in his Parliament
Majority of Muslim countries and West African countries wear their own traditional attire in Parliament i.e Ghana Nigeria Chad etc…so the Kenyan Speaker doesn’t know that wearing a suit and a neck tie is slave masters ideas….
This parliament focusing on suits must be the most idle parliament in the world
They are called Kaunda suits because they became synonymous with Kaunda as he was always wearing them but their actual term is safari suits and were there long before Kaunda started wearing them.
Many African politicians are mentally enslaved. They believe in the notion that foreigners will develop their country. Hence, all the boat licking.
And all the trips abroad.
Ba Mutenta Linkoko.There is nothing new you have contributed,In fact you just agreed with me. Emancipate yourself from mental slavery and avoid self-hatred.Africans have contributed so much to the universal culture than you credit yourselves.Europrean culture insulating itself?.colonial past brotherman