The British gave up their last colonies in Africa half a century ago. But they left their wigs behind.

Not just any wigs. They are the long, white, horsehair locks worn by high court judges (and King George III). They are so old-fashioned and so uncomfortable, that even British barristers have stopped wearing them.

But in former British colonies — Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Malawi and others — they live on, worn by judges and lawyers. Now, a new generation of African jurists is asking: Why are the continent’s most prominent legal minds still wearing the trappings of the colonizers?

It’s not just a question of aesthetics. The wigs and robes are perhaps the most glaring symbol of colonial inheritance at a time when that history is being dredged up in all sorts of ways. This year, Tanzanian President John Magufuli described a proposed free-trade agreement with Europe as a “form of colonialism.” In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe still refers to the British as “thieving colonialists.”

The relics of colonialism are scattered across the continent. There are the queen’s namesakes: Victoria Falls north of Zimbabwe; Lake Victoria, bordering three countries in eastern Africa; Victoria Island in Nigeria. There is the left-lane driving, the cricket, the way public education is organised (not organized).

Most cities and streets have received new names since European rule ended. In 2013, Mugabe officially rebaptized Victoria Falls “Mosi Oa Tunya,” or “the smoke that thunders” in the Kololo language.

Yet the wig survives, along with other relics of the colonial courtroom: red robes, white bows, references to judges as “my lord” and “my lady.”

In nearly every former British colony, op-eds have been written and speeches made about why the wig ought to be removed. In Uganda, the New Vision newspaper conducted an investigation into the cost of the wigs, reporting that each one cost $6,500. In Ghana, a prominent lawyer, Augustine Niber, argued that removing wigs would reduce the “intimidation and fear that often characterize our courtrooms.”

One of the editors of the Nigerian Lawyer blog wrote that wigs weren’t made for the sweltering Lagos heat, where lawyers wilted under their garb. “The culture that invented wig and gown is different from our own and the weather is different,” Unini Chioma wrote.



Increasingly, though, opponents of the colonial outfit aren’t just arguing against inconvenience but against a tradition that African judiciaries appear to be embracing. Britain’s “colonial courts,” which preceded independence, were sometimes brutal. In response to Kenya’s Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s, for example, the wigged white judges sentenced more than 1,000 people to death for conspiring against colonial rule.

“The colonial system used law as [an] instrument of repression, and we’re still maintaining this tradition without questioning it,” said Arnold Tsunga, director of the Africa program at the International Commission of Jurists. “It’s a disgrace to the modern courts of Africa.”

In Kenya, former chief justice Willy Mutunga appealed to remove the wigs from the courtroom, arguing that they were a foreign imposition, not a Kenyan tradition. He swapped the traditional British red robes for ­“Kenyanized” green and yellow ones. He called the wigs “dreadful.”

But that outlook wasn’t shared by many Kenyan judges and lawyers, who saw the wigs and robes as their own uniforms, items that elevate a courtroom, despite — or because of — their colonial links.

“It was met with consternation from within the bench and the bar,” said Isaac Okero, president of the Law Society of Kenya.

Okero is a defender of the wig and the robe, and argues that they represent more than a British tradition, but something that distinguishes the country’s judges.

“I don’t feel at all that it has any negative connotation of colonialism. It has risen beyond that. It is a tradition of the Kenyan bar,” he said.

This year, Kenya’s new chief justice, David Maraga, has indicated that he wants to revert to the colonial traditions. During his swearing-in ceremony, he wore a long white wig and the British-style red robe. Many Kenyans were perplexed.

“It was his rather peculiar outfit that would send a resounding message to Kenyans,” said a broadcaster on KTN, one of the country’s most popular news channels. “It’s back to the old days.”

In Zimbabwe, still ruled by vehement anti-colonialist Mugabe, the wigs are perhaps most mystifying. Why would a man who stripped white farmers of their land, who railed against the name of Victoria Falls, allow an archaic judicial tradition to remain in place?

Balkan:
Useless thread. May be we should stop
Army from wearimg uniform
Nurses from wearing white and uniform
Engeneers from wearing hard hat and overall
Or Doctors from wearing gloves in theatre
Because they were introduce by colonial masters.

Guy pack for one corner
I dont know why you Afonjas keep chassing frivolity.

Balkan:
Useless thread. May be we should stop
Army from wearimg uniform
Nurses from wearing white and uniform
Engeneers from wearing hard hat and overall
Or Doctors from wearing gloves in theatre
Because they were introduce by colonial masters.

Guy pack for one corner
I dont know why you Afonjas keep chassing frivolity.

Balkan:
Useless thread. May be we should stop
Army from wearimg uniform
Nurses from wearing white and uniform
Engeneers from wearing hard hat and overall
Or Doctors from wearing gloves in theatre
Because they were introduce by colonial masters.

Guy pack for one corner
I dont know why you Afonjas keep chassing frivolity.

njideoby:
Some times, it's not just about borrowed culture. There are distinguished symbols and significant attributes of certain professions that you can never do away with. The wig is one of such.

Ezyp:

But the even British people don stop to use am

Balkan:
Useless thread. May be we should stop
Army from wearimg uniform
Nurses from wearing white and uniform
Engeneers from wearing hard hat and overall
Or Doctors from wearing gloves in theatre
Because they were introduce by colonial masters.

Guy pack for one corner
I dont know why you Afonjas keep chassing frivolity.

Ezyp:

But the even British people don stop to use am

Ezyp:


Bros easy na... I am no way related to that name Afonja. lets free ourselves from this white slavery.

njideoby:

So you will stop whatever because the British has stopped. Then stop our men from marrying women because some British men no longer marry women but their fellow men and other inanimate objects.
While at it, stop believing in God because some of the British that brought churches to Nigeria no longer believe in God.

njideoby:

So you will stop whatever because the British has stopped. Then stop our men from marrying women because some British men no longer marry women but their fellow men and other inanimate objects.
While at it, stop believing in God because some of the British that brought churches to Nigeria no longer believe in God.

Ezyp:

Good. But now that our eyes are opened, what's stopping us from doing the right thing. Abi dem still dey scope us.