In the early 1950s, tens of thousands of poor and landless Kikuyus revolted against the Kenyan colonial government and wealthy members of their own community who were allied with the British regime. Known as the "Mau Mau Emergency," this rebellion was one of the most serious threats to British rule in Africa. The widespread lawlessness of the Emergency inspired many young Africans to dress as scouts. The uniform gave them extra security because school officials and policemen assumed they were trustworthy, which helps to explain why the security forces captured and killed Kikuyu guerillas dressed as scouts.

This photograph shows a mixed-sex guerilla band led by a man wearing a scout-type shirt with scout badges running down his sleeves. Obviously staged, it was most likely taken well after the end of the Emergency in the early 1960s to remind Jomo Kenyatta’s incoming African nationalist government that it had to pay attention to the plight of impoverished young Kikuyu if it wanted to keep the peace. It is also possible, however, that Mau Mau units like these used scout uniform and decorations as symbols of authority within the rebel forces.

Many African boys, teachers, and community leaders were genuinely inspired by scouting and founded their own unauthorized independent troops. In other cases, individuals dressed as scouts to claim the benefits of belonging to the movement. Scout leaders and government officials in East Africa paid little attention to these informal adaptations of scouting, but they became alarmed when dance societies in Mombasa began to use Scout uniforms in the early 1930s. These decidedly adult celebrations often included drinking and other forms on inappropriate revelry. Scout leaders lobbied the colonial authorities to crack down on scout impersonators, but at the time there were no laws against the unauthorized use of scout materials in the East African colonies. This legislation from Tanganyika (modern Tanzania) gave the territorial scout association sole legal control over the scout uniform and badges. From 1935 on, Africans who impersonated scouts or formed unauthorized troops faced a stiff fine and one month of jail time at hard labor.

The top photograph shows members of a South African scout troop specifically for blind adolescents and young men c.1950. The bottom photograph is of non-commissioned officers from the King's African Rifles in the mid-1950s. Note that both groups wear similar clothing consisting of khaki shirt and shorts, knee-length socks, clasp belts, and wide brimmed hats. The similarities are not accidental. Baden Powell based the scout uniform on the uniform of the South African Constabulary, a paramilitary police organization he founded after the Anglo-South African War. British colonial military and police forces throughout the world wore similar khaki clothing.

Although scouting had its own specific badges and insignia, the African civilian population understandably had a difficult time distinguishing Boy Scouts from soldiers and policemen. This allowed scouts and men and boys dressed as scouts to pose as policemen and other representatives of the colonial state. Scout leaders and government officials were understandably concerned and upset by this misappropriation of the scout uniform.