The Catechist at the Wenchi Ebenezer congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Gilbert Adatsi has bemoaned the recent disregard for decent dressing by the new generation especially the Christian youth.
The recent spate of indecent exposure, he stressed, can be attributed to the attitude of the elites in the Ghanaian set-up who regard foreign culture as the best.
Mr. Adatsi who spoke with Joy News at Wenchi in the Bono region stated that the way the youth in and out of the church have been dressing immorally lately should be a source of worry to all, most especially the Christian community.
He said the kind of persuasive dresses exhibited by the youth lately, most importantly the ladies, is corrupting the morals of the society.
“The challenge today is who determines what is decent or otherwise and also I know many people will come at me for asking the youth to be decent in their dressings but you see, I speak to the youth in the church and not those outside.
“If young people in the church amend their ways, it will eventually affect or influence how those outside the church will also dress,” Mr Adatsi added.
Caroline Opoku, an undergraduate student in one of Ghana’s universities, stated that everyone is living in a free world therefore she is free to wear anything she wanted.
“Besides, since I buy the clothes, who are you to tell me what to wear? I wear what makes me comfortable. As a young girl, I must wear the best in vogue and if it accentuates some parts of my body and my boyfriend likes it, I do not see anything wrong in it,” she said.
Another student, Stacy Gudman, intimated that she stopped attending the church where she grew up because one Sunday, the usher stopped her from entering the church because of what she wore.
According to her, she wore a mini gown that highlighted her hips and boobs so the old-fashioned usher refused to allow me enter the chapel.
“Since then, I decided to join another church where they will not judge me based on my dressing but my heart. Besides, the Lord sees the heart and not the body, so nobody should judge dressing,” stressed.
However, Mr. Adatsi emphasised that “until the youth in the church stop patronizing the so-called fashion, it will be very difficult us to fight this social disease”.
Mr Adatsi, therefore, charged the youth to be modest in all their endeavours and take heed to pieces of advice from the elderly people.
He further called for strict enforcement of dress codes in colleges of education, polytechnics and universities across the country.
This, according to him, can be achieved by the collective efforts of the security department, staff and the management of the tertiary institutions.
“Parents must also teach their children how to dress decently and doing it since this will serve as an example to their children,” he stated.
The catechist added that if the new generation will adhere to his counsel, the society will drastically reduce the high incidents of immoral dressing.
