KIGALI — President Paul Kagame has defended dress standards that reflect the setting and society’s expectations, weighing into a debate over personal freedom and police enforcement after women were reportedly turned away from a concert because of their clothing.
Kagame guided that public dress standards and cultural expectations, arguing that while personal freedom matters, it must respect the context, setting, and values of the society people live in.
Addressing a youth Meet the President session at BK Arena, where organisers said more than 10,000 young Rwandans had gathered, Kagame said clothing appropriate for a beach might not be suitable for other public settings.
He stressed that the same principle applied to men and women. “If you are going to the beach, by the water, where people go to relax, there is a certain way you can dress and behave that may be different from other places. That is perfectly acceptable,” Kagame said.
“But imagine someone coming here dressed as though they were at the beach. Would that work?”
His remarks follow criticism of dress-code enforcement at entertainment venues, including reports that some women were denied entry to the Diamond Platnumz Experience at the BK Arena parking lot in August.
Critics have questioned how indecent clothing is defined, whether requirements are communicated before events and whether enforcement disproportionately targets women.
Kagame said discussions about appropriate dress should not focus exclusively on women, giving the example of a shirtless man arriving at a formal gathering in gym shorts.
“This is not just about women. Most of the time, these things are made to be about women, but the same applies to men,” he said.
“People would ask, what happened to this person? Did he forget where he was going?”
Kagame argued that societies develop their own expectations and should not automatically adopt practices simply because they are accepted elsewhere.
“There is a way society regulates itself, including through self-regulation,” he said, adding that disagreements should be resolved through understanding rather than hostility. “There should be a way of regulating these things so that people can come to an understanding.”
Comparing society’s response to unfamiliar practices with the body’s reaction to a foreign object, Kagame said communities could resist changes they considered incompatible with their values.
But he repeatedly urged against confrontation.
“There should be no conflict. That is how these things should work,” he said.
The debate has also raised questions about police conduct.
Officers filmed apprehending a young woman wearing a mini skirt at a bus park in Rubavu were subsequently detained, while police said the woman had been cleared.
Police spokesperson ACP Boniface Rutikanga told media at the time that investigators were examining possible misconduct and mishandling of the woman.
Critics of dress-code enforcement say cultural expectations do not justify intimidation, humiliation or unnecessary force.
“A woman’s body is not an invitation for control,” celebrity Pamela Uwicyeza said in an earlier social-media statement.
“We can value respect and culture without policing women’s bodies. Modesty is a choice, not something that should be enforced through fear or violence,” she added.
Commentator Nadia Mugunga also questioned the scope of police authority following the reported mistreatment of a woman.
“Who gave the police the power to police Rwandans’ bodies and identity?” she asked.
BK Arena’s published house rules say personal style and self-expression are welcome but require intimate areas to remain adequately covered, including when guests wear transparent garments.
They also prohibit clothing displaying obscene, hateful, discriminatory or threatening material.
The guidelines do not prescribe a minimum length for skirts, dresses or shorts. They separately prohibit harassment, threats, fighting and violence.
Kagame urged young people to discuss changing social practices and consider whether they benefited their communities.
“Understand what it is that you want for yourselves,” he said.
