Hats, batons, walking sticks: soft features of leaders leaders op political leaders
CCM presidential candidate John Magufuli in a jungle hat at a political rally. Hats and other symbols assume considerable significance when they are part of high profile political personalities. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Presidential hats are super hats – once a top man fancies and acquires one, like, say, at a trade show, security guys ‘mechanise’ them against mischief. Serious suspicions linger, for instance, that some of Yasser Arafat’s head scarves, the keffiyehs, were laced with poison, as part of a plot to eliminate the Palestinian hero in slow but sure installments.
Minus Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan, whose presidential luck run out after losing an election to Muhammad Buhari a little over four months ago, Africa has two reigning, hat-wearing heads of state.
Wide hats bearing the somewhat uncharitable ‘jungle’ tag, are part of the dress code of Uganda’s Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and South Sudan’s Salva Kiir.
A bowler hat linked to British gentry, adorned the head of Malawi’s pioneer president, the late Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
The hats were (and are) symbols that aren’t exclusive to top political figures; even common citizens are free to adopt them, though, being non-high profile news makers, they aren’t highly noticed.
A walking stick was Dr Milton Obote’s symbol during the early phase of his Ugandan presidency.
A baton (kifimbo) was a close companion of Tanzanian founding president Mwalimu Nyerere, which his Kawe parliamentary seat-seeking son Charles Makongoro wants to revive. Kenya’s second president, Daniel arap Moi, had a kifimbo too, his being somewhat rungu-like. His predecessor, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, charmed crowds by waving his famous flywhisk, at them. The leopard skin cap was a conspicuous symbol of Congolese president Mobutu Sese Seko. Some heads of state elect to be ‘symbol-less’; examples being outgoing Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, and his predecessors, Mr Benjamin Mkapa and Mr Ali Hassan Mwinyi. For Kikwete, though, if symbolism may be stretched a bit far, his almost ever-present, almost infectious smile, could pass for a symbol.
Occasionally, CCM presidential candidate for the October election, Dr John Magufuli, wears a Jonathan-Museveni-Kiir-like hat. Whether he would adopt it as a symbol if he wins the race is a matter of conjecture.
Presidential hats are super hats – once a top man fancies and acquires one, like, say, at a trade show, security guys ‘mechanise’ them against mischief. Serious suspicions linger, for instance, that some of Yasser Arafat’s head scarves, the keffiyehs, were laced with poison, as part of a plot to eliminate the Palestinian hero in slow but sure installments.
The Ukawa candidate, Mr Edward Lowassa, spots a Nyerere-like wholly white-haired head that some regard as cool - a probable symbol for the son of Monduli, if his dream of becoming the next Ikulu tenant comes true.
Wilson Kaigarula is the revise editor, The Citizen
