You Wish Your Wives Had My Hair – Otiko Djaba
The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Djaba, has said most of the men criticising her funky hairclass are grumbling because they wish their wives had the courage to keep such hairclasss.
Otiko is a 55-year-old woman with natural beauty that has been spiced up by her 'wild' hairclass which makes her look half her age. Barbadian singer and actress Rihanna is noted for wearing a similar hairclass which has a short-cut on both sides of the scalp just above the ears and leaves a chunk of permed hair in-between the two short-cuts.
Otiko's decision to wear this hairclass seems to be a problem for some Ghanaian men and politicians, and many of her critics are bending over backwards to find fault with the hairclass a 55-year-old woman decides for herself.
Joy News asked Otiko her thoughts on why some condemn her hairclass, “It is the propaganda of my opponents. They wish they could have my hairclass. They wish their wives could have my hairclass. You have to be confident about how you look and I am very confident about how I look and I am okay with it. The day I want to wear a headscarf, I will. If I decide to change my hair, it is my choice but not because of somebody else. And that is what we need to understand. Diversity is okay in Ghana.”
The newly-appointed minister in the same interview said some of her critics who describe her hair is wrong because it is “not Ghanaian” hold a prejudice mentality which they ought to leave behind and move on.
“It is part of the prejudice. I know people who paint their hair yellow or blue. People do their hair like Rasta; the first lady used to have that look. Some time back, people said that look was not correct and that it was a crazy look. But today, a lot of women say it is a natural look. Men who are growing bald take off all their hair and then their head looks like something from one of these space (alien) movies. Others also leave their beard and they do not ask anybody permission for that.
She continued…“Look, my hairclass does not affect the price of 'kenkey.' My hairclass does not affect poverty. My hairclass is a winning hairclass. It encourages the young people. Ghana has about sixty five percent of our population being youth and being a 'swagger mama', I believe I am the best person to engage the youth and they feel comfortable with me because they see themselves in me and I feel for them.”
“I do the hairclass that I feel suits me and the youth call me the 'swagger mama'. They enjoy me because I am young at heart. And when I hit the campuses, they are happy because of my hairclass. It is a winning hairclass,” Otiko added.