President Yoweri Museveni is many things but he’s not fashionable. Neither is he flashy and flamboyant when it comes to his wardrobe.
As a matter of fact, he has always been mocked online for his sense of fashion. Constantly being criticized for his signature look – oversized shirts and oversized suits. There is consensus that whenever he is hanging with his peers, he attracts attention to his tailor more than he does to himself.
His fashion starkly distinguishes him from regional counterparts like Paul Kagame (Rwandan President) and William Ruto (Kenyan President) both of whom always appear looking chic in their made-to-measure suits. He is literally the old man of the region (East Africa).
Which is why when a section of Members of Parliament recently raised concern about the “exaggerated” budget for the President’s clothes, this raised eyebrows within the general public. Some MPs on Parliament’s budget committee said Ushs 350 million is allocated to the President annually for buying clothes. This, they said would translate into Ushs 1 million spent on the President’s wardrobe per day.
Except, Ugandans don’t know their President to be the kind that fits that bill.
Some Ugandans online quickly satirized this revelation, probing whether the white locally-made cotton shirts that the President recycles on a daily really cost that much. If the President needed to exonerate himself, the public was doing all the work for him.
As a person, Museveni’s lifestyle is below modest. It’s unlikely he even owns or uses a smartphone. In 2019, he was trolled after his handlers posted a photo of him using a basic Lenovo laptop. When almost everyone has adapted to the digital disruption, he still subscribes to the traditional means of communication, like expressing his thoughts using pen and ink.
The same applies to his eating habits. He doesn’t eat European or Asian foods. He eats cassava in the morning, skips lunch (only drinks water and coffee without sugar) and later in the evening eats two Irish potatoes and a lot of vegetables.
Perhaps nobody should blame him for taking on this lifestyle.
Having been brought up in a peasant pastoralist family in Ankole (western Uganda) and lived the larger part of his life in an era when the influence of technology and the internet on lifestyle was minimal.
Politics is all he has been preoccupied with his entire adult life, having taken on political activism at age 23 while at the University of Dar es Salaam.
Such a background lives one with little time to care about their drip. Style is engrained in one’s personality. Some people dress to make a statement, others take it from the influences they had growing up, others are influenced by foreign culture – something that never excites Museveni.
In 2018, the President was gifted a pair of Yeezys (a sneakers brand by Kanye and Adidas) by American rapper, Kanye West who was visiting Uganda. The music star must have hoped this was a smart way to endorse his footwear brand, but that was the last time the sneakers were seen publicly. Never mind that the President usually participates in walks and treks for various causes. Instead, he opts for military boots. Had Kanye got the memo (about Museveni’s fashion choices), he would have opted for another gift.
The President has in the past publicly confessed his bias against foreign-made apparel.
In 2018, while at a public rally in Arua Museveni said; “Someone told me this is a special day I had to wear a suit, but I don’t really like these suits. I don’t see why I should make myself a market of these foreign products myself.”
“All of us here are putting on suits and foreign clothes. How much money is this? We are enriching the Chinese and then you say we have no money, no jobs. You are giving them (jobs) away,” he said.
Yet Abbas Kaijuka, one of the leading stylists in Uganda and who styles A-list celebrities doesn’t see the support or jobs the President is giving to the local industry. He cites Presidents like Kagame and Barack Obama (U.S.) whose fashion designers are known publicly and wonders why Museveni is hesitant to do that.
“That is another way of promoting the Ugandan fashion industry. Such a culture would inspire a budding designer, hoping that maybe one day they too will dress the President,” the award-winning stylist who designed the kikoyi-themed outfit that Eddy Kenzo won at this year’s Grammys, told Plugged.
“Where does he get his clothes? We don’t know. Like who dresses Janet (the First Lady)? So, there’s nothing like the President wears Ugandan clothes because we don’t know who makes those clothes. And it doesn’t have to be one designer but rather having different designers for different occasions.”
The Ushs 350m would leave some impact – by creating jobs – had it been actually going into the local fashion industry, Abbas says.
In 2018, Linda Nabusayi who was at the time the Press Secretary to the President revealed that Museveni had only four attires in his wardrobe. She said they were all locally sourced.
Did you know @KagutaMuseveni has only 4 attire in his wardrobe all year..🤔🤔well almost. Yellow and white shirts for daily work. A suit for national and foreign schedules and army for anything related to security. And he still slays🙇♀️🙇♀️. All made #BUBU #Jinja pic.twitter.com/4xNPpHovkq
— Nabusayi Lindah Wamboka (@lindahNabusayi) January 23, 2018
As to whether it is possible that the President would spend Ushs 1 million on his wardrobe every day, Abbas says this depends on what he is wearing. If he wore designer suits (a Marks and Spencer suit goes for about Ushs 5m), it is possible to spend that kind of money.
That budget (Shs 350m a year) would also be justified if Museveni was paying a professional stylist who gives him fashion advice.
“The way he dresses, I don’t think he has someone who is helping him to dress. He’s never really on point like the other Presidents are,” Kaijuka of Kai’s Divo Collection told Plugged in an interview.
“I can give you an example of President Kagame. He’s put together. You can see that someone literally went and got him a properly fitted suit. Or they told him this blue suit, you have to wear with this kind of shirt and whatever.”
One of the President’s daughters, Natasha Karugire Museveni, is a fashioned designer. The graduate of then American College in London (Bachelor in Fashion Design and Marketing) runs House of Kaine and has previously showcased her works at the Kampala Fashion Week.
While there has been a perception that she styles her dad, she told Plugged she does not in any way influence what the President wears.
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“Decisions are made between Mzee and Maama Janet and implemented by a small team. What I can say is that Mzee observes protocol and I think this stems from his military background,” Natasha exclusively told Plugged.
On the question of whether the President has an official stylist, she says; “For anyone who has observed Mzee, this is a funny question. Style is the furthest thing from his mind. If he isn’t in army uniform, he is most likely in his Uganda cotton white shirt and gray slacks and signature hat.”
According to her, 80 percent of what the President wears is sourced and made locally.
She says Museveni’s simplicity when it comes to his fashion is informed by function/purpose as well as comfort.
That – comfort – might answer the question that has always lingered in the minds of those who criticize him for wearing oversized clothes. It might also answer why we have never seen the President clad in the white blazer (which actually looked elegant but rather tight on him) that was gifted to him by Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed Ali, during his visit to State House Entebbe in June of 2018. It could be that he simply doesn’t like clothes too tight on his body.
On Abbas’ idea – the President giving local designers a chance to style him once in a while, Natasha says; “I believe that the team in charge of sourcing the fabric and so on are doing a good job of supporting the local cotton and tailoring industry.”
