Of hemlines, nuns and Mutula

By Njoki Karuoya

When Education minister Mutula Kilonzo made what he supposed were witty remarks at a school function amid cheers from, I’m guessing, the female students who were the target of his ‘jokes’, he must not have anticipated wrath from Kenyans.

For the past week, jokes, reprimands and proclamations have been made in equal measure from those who were shocked or pleased by his statements. And now he’s had it and he’s put out an ultimatum on all who dare ‘misquote’ him again. But how do you stop people from speaking out and even continue to ‘misquote’ him?

Other than the jokers, let’s try and understand why people so ‘misunderstood’ his ‘good intentions’ where he asked for a review of girls’ school uniforms.

What goes around

For a start, he likened their current attire to that of nuns, which many people interpreted to mean that the women of God wear drab and dreary outfits.

Not surprisingly, the Church took offence.

There was laughter, of course, because people tend to associate nuns with robes that cover almost everything from the head to the feet.

The habits on the head cover their hair, while the robes cover everything from neck to ankle, and there are those who add stockings to the mix to ensure not a sliver of flesh, save for the face, is exposed to the public eye.

In movies that taunt the nuns and their fashion sense, actresses have ‘sexed them up’ with high heels, sexy stockings and make-up.

Yet, there are nuns whose uniforms are nice and trendy. And it was in bad taste to draw nuns, who are religious figures, into the mix.

Wise men said; ‘What goes around, comes around’.

In the same vein that Mutula cracked jokes at the nuns’ expense, Kenyans have speared him with the same brand of jokes, and his ultimatum issued on Monday shows that he felt as much pain as the nuns did when he made them the brunt of his jokes.

But more to the point: Kenya has steadily gained the reputation of a nation that does not fully protect its women and their integrity.

Rape cases are on the rise, especially of minors and infants. Why? Because the sex pests consider them most vulnerable and most easy to manipulate with threats of death, to them and their loved ones, should they speak out and reveal the sexual abuse.

Even with their ‘nun-like’ uniforms, school girls are targeted by men of all ages, from teenagers to the wazees (old men). If they are not raping, defiling and brutally stealing their innocence, the men are seducing the girls with money, charm and other sweet things so that they can lift up their skirts.

Shocked

That’s why parents, the religious and academic fraternities went gung-ho on Mutula when some of his sentiments were aired on national television and beamed across the country.

The shocked ones interpreted his ‘jokes’ to mean Mutula wanted female students to wear shorter skirts to school. He has since said that is not what he meant.

The lascivious ones began to imagine the grand shows of flesh and fortune should this ‘misquoted’ reality come to pass. The church was simply offended, as were parents, teachers and moralists.

But I think we’ve all missed out on the opportunity that Mutula’s statements present.

If the Education minister was actually doing his job and voicing the sentiments of all female students in the country who are fed up by their drab school uniforms, then perhaps we really do need to rethink their design and fashion sense. So this is what I think the minister should do.

Mutula should introduce and launch, with pomp and glamour, a national school uniform design competition and get all designers — leading, learning and starting out — to create new designs with the end goal being to come up with the new school uniform, which the ministry will adopt. Basically, all public school uniforms are the same — blouse, tie, cardigan, skirt, socks, shoes. The only variant is the colour.

National uniform search

The competition can start with a pool of designs, which can then be narrowed down as fashion experts go through them and come up with a shortlist. The final leg of the national search can then either be voted by the public or selected by a panel of experts, who should include academicians, fashion designers, psychologists (to provide sense and balance), religious leaders and top students.

Then, hopefully, the debate will end as the country unveils a new era of fashionable yet tasteful uniforms.