The great equalizer

Back in the 1980ties it was possible to tell the class almost every Kenyan merely by visual inspection. But with the arrival of cheap decent 2nd hand clothing, some of the best dressed are poor!

It may escape memory, but there was a time when Kanu Secretary General and current opposition stalwart, William Ruto, was a surprisingly earnest MP. In a TV discussion he made a demurely revelatory statement.

The topic under discussion was mitumba, second hand clothing that flooded Kenya in the 1990s. “Mitumba is not all bad”, he said. “Before mitumba,” he said “you would find a person in my constituency with one shirt, one trouser and those were all the clothes he owned. He would go to the river, remove to wash them, then wait for them to dry maybe while taking a bath. But with mitumba, because it is cheap, a mwanainchi can have 3 sets of shirts and trousers. He doesn’t have to wash and wait”.

Willy was actually spot on. Not too long ago, 1989-90 or so, it was possible, by mere visual inspection to tell the class almost every Kenyan belonged to.

• Flashy and bright new design clothes: definitely of rich stock. Probably young (parent-purchased) or ‘fallen into things’: recently promoted, just got a great job
• Decent though slightly worn: middle income e.g. suffering civil servant, lower level private sector employee (NGOs were few), or child of the same.
• Well worn but decent: lower income e.g. retirees, carrying their lot with dignity, or few rich masquerading as poor (I-am-like-u-so-don’t-thug-me variety).
• Worn-out: poor beyond the capacity of hiding it, an increasing number as rural agriculture and industry’s gradual collapse intensified in the 80s- 90s.

It was bad. A meeting would start with a thorough if unconscious inspection of your clothes by whoever was speaking to you. It was followed by categorization of class and with it a decision of how -if necessary- to speak with you. All this took place instantly. But with the advent of cheap decent 2^nd hand clothing, some of the best dressed are poor! The biggest 2^nd hand clothes market in the country is in a slum. Prowess in negotiation and talent in selection are just as important determinants of dress, as the money in your pocket. Who can tell if that shoe was bought new at KSHS. 4000 and then aged nicely round your foot; or if it was bought mitumba at KSHS. 400 already pre-aged for you by external labor?

Will the advent of tax on 2^nd hand clothes mark the return to class-based dressing? Mercy Mburu, a 2^nd hand dealer herself and newspaper columnist, seems to suggest so. If she is right, then it would be another watermark in Kenya’s drift towards rough capitalism. With fewer measures for decent living left open to the poor.

People say the internet makes all equal. They are wrong. It is mitumba.

Ian Gatere is Communication Coordinator of IEC Strategy Ltd.

Email: info@iecstrategy.co.ke