Kenya's second quest for a national dress to gobble Sh100 million

Principal Secretary State Department for Heritage, Culture and Arts Ummi Bashir during an interview in Nairobi on Friday, February, 02, 2024. [File, Standard]

Culture, Heritage and Arts Principal Secretary Ummi Bashir was on Friday taken to task by members of Parliament over the planned expenditure of Sh100 million for the design of a Kenyan national dress despite a Sh50 million having already been spent on a similar dress.

During a sitting of the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Sports and Culture, it also emerged that Sh50 million had also been expended for the design of a digital platform dubbed “Sanaa app”.

The PS submitted to the House team that her department was waiting on the disbursement of the Sh100 million to kick start the development process of the dress, despite a similar undertaking which cost the government Sh50 million having flopped.

The Webuye West MP Dan Wanyama-led committee however expressed reservations seeking to understand why, at a time the country was cash-strapped, the dress was a necessity further noting that it did not intend to undertake the process following the previous failed attempt.

“How much has cumulatively spent on the dress so far? This issue of the dress has been with us for the last I think 20 years. Why now?” posed Suba South MP Caroli Omondi.

This prompted the Director of Culture Dr. Kiprop Lagat to make a case for the dress and its attached cost. He told the legislators that the millions would be used to facilitate public participation, design, a national validation exercise as well as a market campaign for 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. It enhances national pride, cohesion and also embeds the values and ethos of a nation,” he stated.

He also brought to the fore plans to create several national dresses.

“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 added.

PS Bashir, who was answering to queries regarding the utilization of funds disbursed to the state department in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years, was also tasked with explaining why the previous undertaking was not impactful.

Notably, the last bid to have a national dress was fronted by former Minister of Culture and Heritage Najib Balala in 2004. But despite sinking Sh50 million into the project, the dress was never embraced by the public.

Bashir explained that the outcome was so given that the first attempt was a “boardroom decision forced down the throats of Kenyans without involving them.”

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

Director Lagat said that in a bid to avert the same fate befalling the current initiative, more designers would be brought on board and an expansive national validation exercise conducted before the attire is availed to the public for purchase.

“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 remarked.

The resolve to commence Kenya’s second quest for a national dress was first communicated in December 2023 during the Utamaduni Day celebrations in Nairobi.

"Kenya does not have a national dress...That is something we are working on and we promise (to have one) by the next Utamaduni day,” Bashir had said.

Felix Koskei, the head of public service also echoed her remarks and reiterated the government's intent to ensure the project was a success.

“The government will work day and night to ensure that we have this national dress,” he said.

At the same time the State Department defended the expenditure of Sh50 million on the digital platform noting that it would be a source of revenue for the country.

“This will not be a normal application. It will be a platform where artists can sell items and tourists can buy their products with the satisfaction and guarantee that they will be delivered to them," he said.