OPINION: Do we really need the gown?

By Innocent Nahabwe

Last year, I graduated from MUK with an MSc Marketing. Unlike many graduands, I never bought a new suit, or carried my parents there …not even a graduation party after. The bazinyi surprised me with cake in the afternoon at work thereafter and that was all.

The real degree had been earned about 4 months earlier when I defended my research. With or without the gown, I still would have graduated.

This year, the hullabaloo of graduation gowns is amplified. Unlike 2006 when we graduated with bachelors when we were few and the ceremony was organised, these years, it’s like a music fete . The noise in the tents makes it more like a carnival. There are no commencement speeches to look forward to but same political speeches .

Since MAK is nowon the college system, can’t each college organise their own grad and make it nice, small and beautiful? Do we need the gowns anyway? Why can’t we recycle what we used for our daughters and brothers? Even wedding gowns can be hired !
Haven’t they already earned the degree/ diploma anyway?
This gown is the most expensive and useless garment I have that I cant use anywhere else!

The writer is a former Makerere University student and businessman in Kampala.