Do we dress to impress or do we do so to make
some political cum moral lessons, that is, to teach?The choice looks so simple for an ordinary bloke like me. But not so with Vice-President John Dramani Mahama, who had been the butt of bsome bawdy and scatological commentary as a segment of the Ghanaian populace take aim at his mode of dressing, as though there was something wrong with what he
wears.
In a democratic setting, citizens have the right to refract the manners
of their leaders, and even to satirize their attitudes and behaviours. But
has the Vice-President committed any wrong with his style of dressing? Is
his dressing eccentric to elicit that kind of response one hears and reads,
especially on the web?
To get to the answer, it is essential to note that there is merit in
whether one dresses to teach or to delight and that one should have a choice as to which option best suits him or her - whether his or her mode is a statement of intellect over emotions or the reverse. This makes a value-laden position. Even so, a Vice-President should at all costs ensure
his intellect rules over his emotions.
Judging from the statement by his media aide, Mr John Jinapor Abdulai, Mr Mahama's manner of dressing has become a hot-button public issue that puts him in a state of quandary akin to the character in Ama Ata Aidoo's "Dilemma of a Ghost" who had to decide whether to proceed to Elmina or to Cape Coast.
Vice-President's dilemma is also similar to the fight that dogged the study of literature at its onset when scholars were torn between whether
that body of humanistic endeavour exists principally because it helps to teach ("decere") or shape behaviour, or , alternatively, because its essence is to delight ("delectare").
Putting it more pointedly, should our political leaders dress to impress or to make some statement, such as anatomizing African ideals and
ideas?
One favours the view by most African scholars that Africans should not engage in "art for art's sake"; and adapting to the couture industry, it means we should not dress for the sake of dressing. If in dressing one succeeds in combining the "decree" with the "delectare", well and good. Albeit, if I were a Vice-President (but I have zero political ambition), my pre-occupation will be with the "decree" for a number of reasons.
Firstly, African leaders such as Vice President Mahama have a sacred duty, to quote Chinua Achebe, to be seen as performing "acts of atonement with their past, the ritual return and homage" to continent's artistic patrimony and heritage.
They must indigenize their arts and letters. In this regard, the Vice President should not feel encumbered to succumb to an imposing dress code. He must be seen as someone who inspires confidence and encourages his compatriot to have confidence in themselves and their cultural artifacts rather than being seen as a leader who is obsessed with wearing clothes suitable for cold climates which are uncomfortable for tropic environment.
If he chooses that option then our Veep will be seen as someone suffering from identity crisis as his critics. Thankfully, he has resisted
the bait. He has taken the option that it is better "to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them (Hamlet, Shakespeare).
This point does not discount the fact that we live in a global world where inter-dependence is key for survival.
However, it is that we must adopt from other cultures and adapt them to our exigencies. The notion that we must wear clothes suited for cold climate in tropics attests to the fact we must rediscover ourselves and the moment of introspection must begin now.
We have highly ranked westerners such as former country directors of the World Bank preferring our manner of dressing while we get walloped in false pride. Three-piece suits should be worn as a matter of variety, not compulsion.
Vice President Mahama must be seen as a Ghanaian, not a Ghanaian in a borrowed cloth as found in Professor Kofi Awoonor's poem entitled "We have found a new land".
In this poem, Prof Awoonor talks about "the smart professionals in three-piece sweating away their humanity in driblets and wiping the blood
from the brow". Teasingly, Prof Awoonor calls forth to such Africans: "Come on, old boy, you cannot dress like that".
Explicating "We have found a new land", Professors Kojo Senanu and Theo Vincent described it as a "powerful and stinging satire on the misguided attempt by some members of the professional elite of . African states to
copy the manners of speech and dress of their former colonial masters".
As the persona warns, we must not lose our personal and national
identity and that is what the Vice-President is doing whether he is seen in batik, tie and dye, fugu, batakari or adinkra pattern-festooned linen
shirts.
And as the persona further admonished, those unduly criticizing the manner of the Vice-President dressing must "pause to relearn the wisdom of our fathers".
In his "Anatomy of West African Poetry", Mr Afful Boachie of the Department of English, University College of Education, Winneba, said the sting in Awoonor's poem lies in the fact that while the so-called intellectuals - (who are criticizing the Vice-President for being shabby
because he wears African-style dresses) - do not see anything wrong with their own behaviour and in fact look down on their own culture and show
contempt for it thinking it is ridiculous, it is they rather who are contemptible: "This underlines the hollowness of their learning", Afful Boachie anatomizes. For such people, the Vice-President should be seen wearing dresses that will make in appear as if he is a jongleur or minstrel and not a Ghanaian.
Explicating further, Afful Boachie said the phrase "smart professionals" in the poem is "bitingly sarcastic": "Far from being 'smart',
they are in fact dull-minded since they do not see anything wrong with the discomfort wearing a three-piece suit under the blazing hot tropical sun".
According to Afful Boachie, some intellectuals often throw away their cultural identity with spurious reason that we live in a raceless and
globalized world where one's colour does not matter, yet they are dressed in the clothes of a particular race.
Beyond his cultural stance as articulated by the Vice President's spokesperson, it is the hope that he will also use his dress sense in
promoting an artistic vision for Ghana. And as an advocate for small and medium scale enterprises, I will encourage the Vice-President to use his
tenure to promote the export of Ghanaian garments to western world to create jobs.
As Prof J.K. Anquandah observed, Ghanaians have gone beyond the 1880s (until as recently as the 1980s), when western scholars debated among
themselves as to whether before the coming under European and Asian influences, the peoples of "Black Africa" ever had a sense of aesthetics,
elegance or artistry. The acceptance today is that "present-day Ghanaians have a keen sense of elegance and artistry".
I will therefore urge the Vice-President to promote, in conjunction with the Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA), the West African Trade Hub (WATH), and the Garment Manufacturers Association, to facilitate the export of Ghanaian manufactured apparel to the international markets.
The WATH, for instance, has been working with a number of SMEs to take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which waives duties on 6, 000 products exported from Ghana and selected African countries to the US. It will be important for the Vice-President to be fully engaged in assisting these SMEs in providing assistance on fabric sourcing and
facilitation of investment financing and preparations for certification procedures by Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production (WRAP), as has been identified by WATH.
Just as European and American entrepreneurs flood our market with their goods, it is equally prudent on our part to also have a bite in their stake, especially when many Westerners are now favourably disposed to wearing African goods such as exported Ghana T-shirts and other African-style wear.
Indeed, AGOA is a good thing for Africa which the Vice-President should consider. According to WATH, AGOA helped in boosting sub-Saharan African exports by 44.2 billion in 2006 alone, which is a 16 per cent increase since
over the 2005 figure.
It admits that although petroleum products still account for the largest share of AGOA products, non-oil exports have reached 3.2 billion dollars in 2006. These include ethnic printed fabrics, manufactured apparel,
hand-woven cloth, silver and beaded jewellery, hand-crafted pottery and baskets, among others.
During his visit to the Ghana, US President Barack Obama was seen being presented with a Ghanaian wax print shirt which has his pictures embossed in it by Anderson Cooper, the CNN Journalist who interviewed him at the Cape
Coast Castle.
But did we, the Ghanaians he came to visit, offer him any "Woodin" shirt, "agbada", smock or tailored for his wife and the two daughters slit
and kaba? Maybe officialdom did it at the blind side of the rest of us.
Appearing on Kwaku Sakyi-Addo's television platform, "Kwaku one-on-one", Mr Kofi Ansah, one of Ghana's great designers, made the point of a big market for the export of Ghanaian clothes but was sad that this has not happened at the pace it should because the garment manufacturers who are
saddled with technical difficulties and are not receiving support from the state in taking advantage of the openings.
I will wish that the Vice-President shall embrace the likes of Mr Ansah, Mawuli Okudzeto, Nora Bannerman, Adzedu of Shape, and my own Abaloo at Koforidua, and the many unsung small scale producers dotted across the country as his primary constituency in the battle against the intellectuals who are vexed with nothing.
Besides promoting Ghanaian goods to the outside world the same way Chinese, French, Dubai, British and American goods have flooded our market, his collaboration with the stakeholders will enable government rejuvenate
Ghana's depressed cotton industry which used to be the main source of employment of many people in the Northern parts of the country.
Another thing The Vice President can consider, as Mrs Michelle Obama is known to be doing, is to select some "underground" designers/manufacturers and bring them to the limelight by patronizing their clothes and encouraging others to do same. This is the way markets are created for job creation the
NDC promised the people.
Vice-President Mahama can also insist that as part of the package of state-sponsored international conferences, participants are presented with Ghanaian apparels to be worn at the opening and closing of such ceremonies
as part of moves to brand and market Ghana.
The Asian countries are known for this diet and it is always pleasing to observe visiting dignitaries appearing in the same attire as their host. In this regard, Vice-President Mahama can, for instance, give samples of the dresses he is famed for as a departing gift to foreign dignitaries who call on him.
Former President Jerry John Rawlings, former President Nelson Mandela and former President Olusegun Obasanjo created their own dressing signatures whilst in office and this is often associated with their legacies.
Former President Rawlings for instance created such a niche for the smock that Ghanaians (re) embraced it.
In retrospect, the Vice-President, rather than being worried by the bashing, must seek to create a brand of his dressing identity to forcefully market Ghana. This will not only be for its valued cultural and political
ramifications, but also for the fact that he can seize the opportunity to buoy-up the growth of small and medium scale garment enterprises to generate jobs, enhance income levels and bolster the flagging cotton industry. It is by such acts that the better Ghana dream will be shaped into reality.