Kilifi Speaker throws out Bill seeking to ban ‘indecent’ dress

By PAUL GITAU

Kilifi, Kenya: Kilifi County Speaker Jimmy Kahindi has ruled that a private member’s motion seeking to table a Bill to ban mini-skirts and other ‘indecent’ types of dress is unconstitutional and rejected its introduction in the Assembly.

Kahindi said the motion has been studied by the assembly’s legal committee and was rejected.

The decision was received with mixed reactions as commercial sex workers, who had threatened to block any law banning skimpy dressing, celebrated while the mover of the motion, Renson Kambi, said he would not be deterred.

The Marafa Ward Representative said he will not relent in his bid to promote decent dressing and will amend his proposed Bill to conform to the Constitution.

As part of his grounds for rejecting the Bill, Kahindi said the Bill seeks to establish a law that will be impossible to implement or enforce.

NOT POSSIBLE

Kahindi who addressed the assembly yesterday morning said he had gone through the notice of motion seeking to introduce the Bill and found it inadmissible because any Bill based on it will infringe article 44 of the Constitution.

The speaker also noted that allowing the Bill to be tabled in the House for debate will be a waste of time because even if it is adopted, implementing it will be next to impossible.

“Following these reasons I declare the motion inadmissible and will not be taken to the floor of the House,” he ruled.

Kambi came up with the motion after he recently visited a provincial administration office only to encounter a scantily-dressed young lady seeking services at the Government office.

“It was very embarrassing to see the scantily-dressed woman but since there is no law banning provocative dressing, I decided to introduce a motion that would ban indecent dressing in the county,” he said.

RESPECT CULTURE

In his motion, Kambi also sought to bar men, including beach boys, from wearing sagging trousers. It also sought to ban certain gatherings deemed to promote promiscuity.

But the House Speaker said that Article 44 of the Bill of Rights as enshrined in the Constitution allows every person to use the language and participate in any culture of his choice, adding that culture includes norms, values, habits, mode of dressing and eating.

“Therefore, an individual’s mode of dressing is part of his or her culture which is protected by the Constitution and should be respected,” he said.

He said even though wearing of mini-skirts is considered a western cultural influence, the Constitution is clear that a person’s culture “be it western, African or Indian should be respected.”

Kahindi also said it is difficult, if not impossible, to implement the law even if it was passed. “You expect us to direct police officers to carry a tape measure around so they can measure the skirts that women will be wearing,” he asked.

He said even though it may be considered immoral for women to wear scanty clothes or miniskirts, they have not committed any crime hence cannot be arrested.

TRADE TOOLS

The Speaker’s move is expected to pacify commercial sex workers from Malindi, Watamu and Mtwapa who had earlier threatened to go to court and oppose the Bill.

Those interviewed said the ban would render them jobless as the scanty dress is part and parcel of their trade tools.