Michael Mundia Kamau
P.O. Box 58972
00200 City Square
Nairobi
Kenya

29th February 2004

         500,000 LOSERS

The purported March 1st 2004 deadline for women in Kenya’s coastal
region to cease dressing in trousers and mini-skirts reeks of hypocrisy,
cowardice and defeatism. Of all the issues in Kenya that require urgent
and immediate tackling, dress codes are not a priority per se. If the
perpetrators behind the cowardly distribution of the intimidating
leafleats want to be of use to this country, they are better off issuing
ultimatums to rapists, thugs, muggers, drug dealers and all other people
involved in vice in Kenya, and even then, within the confines of the law.

It appears that several men are threatened and uncomfortable with the
fast emerging status of women. Brute force, violence, intimidation and
threats are not however the solution to contemporary gender issues. A
new order has emerged which we must accept, which is beneficial, and
which must spur productive competitiveness. The challenge of our time is to
eradicate all kinds of prejudice, bias and chauvinism including racism,
sectarianism and tribalism.

It is true that many women in Kenya today dress provocatively and
immodestly. Part of it is a rude statement to society of emerged and
emerging status, another part is a rebuke to society for  having purportedly
treated women so badly for so many years, and the rest is just plain old
fashioned whoring. Which ever way one looks at it however, Kenyan men
play an active role in all these.

It is admirable to see the aggressiveness with which Kenyan women
continue to entrench themselves in leadership, in Corporate Kenya and in a
diverse range of professions. All are highly intelligent individuals
with a burning desire and ambition to make a difference, and indeed have
the required drive to accomplish their dreams. Many Africans yearn for
the time when in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, “we shall
be judged by the content of our character and not the colour of our
skin”. This is a feat that will require a tremendous amount of work and
many generations. There is a crop of highly skilled and motivated
Kenyan women who are already playing a very useful role towards this goal.
They are driven by the same passion that drove Dr. King.

If Kenyan men want to regain the respect of womenfolk in Kenya then
they must resume their active role in the present and future destiny of
this country. Too many Kenyan men have allowed themselves to drift into
alcoholism, idleness, promiscuity and general retrogressiveness. If we
are not at a venue watching a troop of women suggestively dancing to
offensively loud Congolese music, we are holed up in a brothel. If not at
either of the prior two venues, then we could be at an out of town
location with one or two of our numerous mistresses, or at a pub trying to
conceal our sorrows by cheering on the UK’s Manchester United on a
giant screen. And this is for the well to do. Many other Kenyan men
cannot afford these luxuries save for the offensively loud Congolese music,
and have therefore taken to consuming cheap poisonous alcoholic
concoctions. Several Kenyan women have even put aside their pride over the
years and publicly complained that these cheap poisonous alcoholic
concoctions had turned their men into eunuchs and denied them their conjugal
rights ! This has been in addition to men abdicating wider and greater
family responsibilities. For women to do this, they must be really
desperate. Respect for men cannot be borne out of this. It is depressing to
see fully able men stagger violently after consuming these brews.

The onus is on Kenyan men to regain respect by following in the good
steps of a sizable number of Kenyan women. We live in a fast changing
world that cannot tolerate bigotry, prejudice and chauvanism. We need to
produce a soundly skilled and able Kenyan community capable of standing
it’s ground anywhere in the world. The future of this country lies in
both the men and women, the boys and girls. Personal failings should
and will not be allowed deter the goals and aspirations of 30 million
Kenyans, indeed an entire Nation.



Michael Mundia Kamau