Larry Madowo: I Would Love To Keep Dreadlocks But…

Dreadlocks have been a subject of discussion in Kenya in the recent past, especially after a class teacher in Rusinga school kicked out a pupil who had donned the dreadlocks since he was a toddler.

This prompted a court tussle between the school and the boy’s parents with the parents subsequently losing the case after Judge Mumbi Ngugi said the parents had failed to produce enough evidence that the school was going against the pupil’s religious believes.

Larry Madowo has finally added his voice to the debate in his Daily Nation column.

In his article titled ‘Banning Dreadlocks in Schools is Just Backward’, Madowo takes a dig at the schools that don’t allow students and pupils with dreadlocks to continue with their studies because of considering the dreadlocks untidy.

Dreadlocks

However, what captivates most is the confession that Madowo makes about his desire for dreadlocks.

The celebrated NTV anchor admits that he himself would love to done dreadlocks but he is curtailed by what he feels is his profession.

Madowo wonders how his audience will view him if he appears on TV in dreadlocks. This, according to him, is a big setback.

Madowo can’t just imagine interviewing Devolution Cabinet Secretary in dreadlocks. This is what he had to say:

“One of my greatest regrets is that I can’t have dreadlocks. There’s a certain charm that comes with having them running down your ears as you interview the devolution Cabinet secretary or “the mighty prophet of the Lord”, David Owuor. If the widely revered preacher can have a beard that mutinous, why can’t the rest of us, lesser beings, grow our hair long?”

Madowo also thinks that the female gender is highly favoured in Kenya at the expense of the male gender. He feels this is why ladies are allowed to keep braids in school while gentlemen are not allowed to keep dreadlocks.