Gov't sets aside Ksh.100 million to design national dress

The government has reignited the quest to have a Kenyan national dress, as it is now emerging that Ksh.100 million has been budgeted for the project.

This is despite the country previously already spending Ksh.50 million for the dress, which Culture, Arts and Heritage Principal Secretary Ummi Bashir said was a flop.

PS Bashir had, during Utamaduni Day celebrations held in Nairobi last year, announced that the government would unveil the national dress by October this year.

“Kenya does not have a national dress, do we ? That is something that we are working on and we promise that by next Utamaduni Day, we will consult and we vow to at least have a Kenyan National Dress by then,” Bashir said on October 10, 2023.

Her remarks were echoed by Head of Public Service Felix Koskei who said: “I assure you that we will work day and night to ensure that next time we shall have a national dress.”

Speaking when she appeared before the National Assembly’s Sports and Culture committee on Thursday, Bashir told members that they’re hoping to receive the funds to kickstart the process.

This after members of the committee, led by Chairperson Webuye West MP Dan Wanyama, said they don’t intend to undertake the process again after the latest attempt.

According to Dr. Kiprop Lagat, Director of Culture in the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage, the money will be used to facilitate public participation, design, do national validation and market the national dress.

“A national dress is an attire that is recognized by the citizens of a country as a dress that encapsulates the national diversity, national identity and the civilization of a country that enhances national pride cohesion and also embeds the values and ethos of a nation,” he stated.

Dr. Lagat told members that they might come up with several national dresses considering the diversity of the country.

“It’s not necessarily true that we could have just one national dress, but we could have a variety that would be representative of the diversity that we have in this country,” he said.

Bashir said that the first attempt to come up with a national dress flopped because it was a boardroom decision forced down the throats of Kenyans without involving them.

The attempt in 2004 was spearheaded by then Minister of Culture and Heritage Najib Balala, and saw taxpayers spend Ksh.50 million.

“It was a boardroom decision without engaging the end users and stakeholders. For a change we are now involving counties, different designers in order to come up with the best design,” she said.

Dr. Lagat told members that they have planned to do things differently this time, as they intend to involve more than one designer and do national validation before releasing the attire to the public.

“Some designs could be so unique to some parts of the country and so some counties could decide to adopt it and use it as their official dress,” he added.