We are in a naked age! Indeed, we are in naked times. Soon, it would become fashionable to go to work half-naked, with everything dangling in acknowledgement of 51 years of independence. And I mean everything! Ghanaians have become so independent and liberated that very little girls do not mind exposing their backsides and saying 'I am aware'. Indeed, they are aware. Soccer coach Otto Pfister is the singular personality who combined a dishonourable sense of fashion with football antics and sent the youth of Ghana walking about half-bent, half-crawling, their belts over the lower buttocks. Even crabs don't do that. The first day I saw my son walking that way, I was horrified. I asked him whether he had problems with his waist. Of course none! What about his knees? He said he was quite okay! "How come your waistline has changed overnight?" I am pretty sure that fashion is no longer fashion, but a journey in the direction of stupidity. The truth is that when stupidity becomes personified, it manifests in many forms such as indecency being mistaken for fashion. Albert Einstein must have been a keen observer of the inertia and perpetuity of human stupidity, and once said that the two things that are infinite are the universe and human stupidity. When being fashionable, for instance, can be an avenue for youngsters to walk as if they suffer permanently from lumbar arthritis, then stupidity has come to roost. People who come to Ghana might be tempted to think a good percentage of our youth have rheumatism combined with dislodged waist alignments. In truth what the youth need is not medical attention. They need deliverance! The Holy Spirit must intercede on their behalf or they turn themselves into cripples. When it comes to hairdos, it is not getting too strange these days. But the last time I had a cut the barber gave me a wonderful style. I asked him the name of the cut and what he said nearly made me palpitate. "Massa, this one is called 'Playboy.' It fits you brutal." I was quite flattered. I looked into the mirror and looked like an 18 year-old. Not bad for a man who was not born exactly yesterday. When I got to work, my boss was half-impressed, half worried. I told him the name of the cut and he asked whether I would be play-boying. Wish I had the strength to. In the days of my daddy, hairstyles had names like 'Tokyo Joe' and 'Show Your Back'. The crew-cut that US marines adopted became fashionable in the 1970s and when actress Grace Jones straddled the screens with her African-American pride, her haircut was quickly penciled-up for adoption. The problem with the bushy hair of old is that, Rastafarianism had become a new phenomenon and the dreadlocks had entered the fray. Those who got disgusted followed the new line - the sakora! The most celebrated is the 'skin' or 'sweat.' For those of us going dangerously bald like the African vulture, sakora has come in handy to save our looks. Talking about hairdo, it’s that of Taribo West which still rings a bell in soccer memory. The Nigerian international's hairdo was unsightly enough to ward off dangerous strikers. All in all, politicians will have to think about reviewing their hairstyles as the D-Day looms. For parliamentarians, it will depend on whether they want to impress the youth or their wives. Their hair-cuts must have a target audience. Some would want to impress only young ladies, for very good reasons that are not entirely political. With presidential aspirants, hairdo might turn out to be very important. For instance, and for very curious reasons, some people see the bald head as one of maturity and wisdom. Check out Nkrumah's trade-mark baldness, a man 50 years ahead his peers. Whether Kwesi Nduom will fit that huge vacuum Nkrumah has left is left to be seen, but his Nkrumahist hairdo just fits the bill. He also has the kind of moustache that generates its own electricity. Atta-Mills has, once in a while gone young overnight. He must have a barber with a master's degree. On his door-to-door campaign, the man's youngish haircut elicits drumming and dancing. "Saayoo'" John the Baptist has returned from the wilderness to preach the good news. Edward Mahama is better-off without his 'headgear,' a fashionable native cap you can spot 10 miles away. Kofi Wayo alias Chuck likes his cap and a cigar - the American mannerism appeals to the Nima Boy. He adds a lot of spice to Ghana politics. He tackles the hot issues and goes all out to make his point. By far, it is Nana-o! Nana! Who is the trendiest. He goes 'skin' and sweat and wears a pair of recent round rimmed spectacles to match. I hear he is touring West Africa. The flag bearership victory has fired the man's imagination. Some say he is merely counting his chicks before they are hatched. Others say the man has won in advance and is only rehearsing how to rule Ghana. I am sure Atta-Mills doesn't think any game is won before it gets underway. The 2008 election will surely be tough, for the very reason that the CPP, precisely the Nkrumaist family is massing up. They are likely to make a good-showing this time around. Certainly, Kwesi Nduom is not going to be a mere walkover. The man doesn't see himself as adding up to make democracy a practical reality in Ghana. The facts are clear. There are many Nkrumaists gone astray. Some are in the NPP checking out the how far of their stomachs. Others are in the NDC hoping that Atta Mills wil lead the dance to the Castle with a presidential hairdo. Chances are that Nduom can grab a good number of any of those straying or split the votes of either the NPP or NDC and bring the entire political equation into a new algebraic expression. The countdown has begun. The tension is rising gradually. By August it will be ‘butu butu’. Source: Merari Alomele/ The Spectator Email: merarix2001@yahoo.co.uk