MP wants Speakers barred from wearing colonial-era wigs
“Can we also ask the Minister to enrich this proposal to also have the dress code for the Speaker? I seem to see Speaker (Oboth) and Deputy Speaker (Thomas Tayebwa) struggling with wigs. It looks like, one, it (wig) is unhealthy. Because it holds the most important part of our body, which is the head. Two, it is also not African,” Omodi suggested.
MP Dennis Omodi Alyela is calling for Parliament's presiding officers (Jacob Oboth and Thomas Tayebwa) to stop wearing the customary white horsehair wigs.
KAMPALA - Lira Division East MP Dennis Omodi Alyela is calling for Parliament's presiding officers to stop wearing the customary white horsehair wigs.
The move, he says, will help the institution shed its colonial past.
Omodi raised this on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, when Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, which was being steered by Fred Ruhindi (Nakawa East, NRM), met to discuss amendments to the Rules of Procedure.
The latter, which govern the conduct of the August House, are amended at the start of every Parliament, with the last changes having occurred in May 2025.
Among a raft of changes, traditional attire reserved for male MPs, such as the famous Kaunda suit and Madiba shirts, was prohibited.
However, while submitting today, Omodi urged Uganda to follow Kenya's example, where presiding officers and judges no longer wear colonial-era relics.
Adding that if they are to decolonise, then they need to desist from entrenching foreign fashion in the Rules of Procedure.
“I am a Lango man; I have a dress code that, in my culture, is right and fitting. Because I am an African man, Uganda and should be able to promote that culture in our Parliament. The same should apply to other members of Parliament from other regions or tribes,” he argued.
“I am one of those Members of Parliament (MPs) who struggle every morning to find a suit and tie to rope my neck with. I think many of my colleagues are suffering from the same,” Omodi added.
He argued that, if possible, Parliament should disband the suit and tie.
MPs back move
While many were mute on scrapping the horsehair wig, some, including Catherine Akumu Mavenjina (Older Persons MP Northern, NRM), agreed that the much-hyped European attire was not that comfortable.
“Actually, the day we discussed the dress code thoroughly in Parliament, I was almost left crestfallen because they were saying all men and women should be in suits,” said Mavenjina.
This triggered bouts of laughter from everyone present in the committee, including agriculture minister Frank Tumwebaze, who had come to present a petition to this end.
“That day after we finished the discussion in Parliament, when we came out in the lobby, I can recall Rukia Nakadama (Third Deputy Premier) came straight to me and said, 'Now what shall we do with mama here?'” Mavenjina alluded.
Richard Ongorok (Usuk County, NRM) admitted, “I am one of those members who feel uncomfortable putting on a suit and a tie. Sometimes, I feel constricted around the neck. You know the tie depends on what type of shirt you put on, and sometimes the weather is not suitable to put on a suit, and you’re sweaty.”
Likelihood of confusion
However, Peggy Joy Wako (National Female Older Persons MP, NRM) warned that opening the floodgates to all sorts of cultural wear would stir confusion.
“I also would like to agree with some members on the dress code, but it should have a limit. In Uganda we have so many cultures; if we say that our cultural dresses are allowed, it will look funny, and our Parliament won’t be smart. I would say that in a week we have one day where a member is allowed to put on cultural dress,” Wako retorted.