NOT ALL GHANAIANS LONG TO STAY SHORT : TALL PEOPLE CHALLENGE CULTURE'S SIZE PREFERENCE.

Byline: Howard W. French The New York Times

A quick glance around is enough to tell the arriving visitor here that Ghana is a country designed for the abbreviated of stature.

Visit most homes and the doorways are low. Lie down on any bed outside of the major international hotels and discover how short a mattress can be. And if you are over 6 feet tall, don't even think about buying clothes off store racks here; they won't fit.

The esthetic value placed on compactness has long been enshrined in the famous wooden sculpture of the prevailing ethnic group in this part of West Africa, the Akan, who sculpt muscular carved couples of men and women in a squatting posture, almost as if to emphasize their shortness.

And while Ghanaians are almost unfailingly friendly, in a society where an average adult male stands about 5 feet 8 inches, it is not a place where a 6-foot-4-inch foreign journalist can expect to work without drawing stares.

``When we were in school we were always forced to sit in the back,'' said Godwin Kuadey, a broad-shouldered, booming-voiced 6-foot-7-inch man who is now chief superintendent of the Ghanaian police. ``If you ever sat anywhere else, people would complain you are blocking their view. On the playground, when we played volleyball, people would tease me, calling me the pole.''

In a country where some regions lack clean water or electricity, where hunger and illiteracy afflict many, Kuadey's complaint may seem trivial, but it is serious enough to the members who have sought comforting solidarity in the Tall Men's Club of Ghana.

The association aims, say members like the police superintendent, to defend the rights of this country's least-known oppressed minority: the few who tower over the many.

For the 65 or so members over 6 feet tall who banded together to form the club a year ago, the handicaps of being statuesque in the land of the squat range from the mundane difficulties of finding shoes that fit to discrimination against tall people in the workplace.

Most of all, though, the group aims to give its members, who have gone from being awkward wallflowers at teen-age parties to uncomfortable standouts in crowded office elevators, the self-confidence to get over what many say has been a crippling shyness and get on with their lives.

``To be a tall person can be quite embarrassing, especially for a lot of younger guys,'' said Sammy Dodoo, 33, a manager at a telecommunications company here who is 6 feet 4 inches tall.

``This society does everything it can to remind you that you are too tall. The result is that lots of tall people feel shy about asserting themselves, or even coming out.''

Although Ghana's Tall Men's Club organizes regular fund-raisers for charity work, operates an agricultural cooperative that hopes to become a big exporter of tropical produce, and provides volunteers for good works like cleaning up the grounds of the state hospital, the primary focus of the monthly meetings it holds in Accra's YMCA seems to be making its members feel more secure about themselves.

``Our biggest preoccupation is to improve the social and financial well-being of our members,'' said Joseph Mensah, 50, a founder of the club, who at 6-foot-2 is one of its shortest members.

The idea for the club came to him, Mensah said, when his teen-age daughter remarked that her father always seemed to surround himself with tall people, starting with his own family.

Like most every member, Mensah, who is a civil engineer, said he remembers the teasing of classmates over long legs that wouldn't fit under his school desk or between the tightly spaced seats of the city's ramshackle buses.

As their first political effort, Ghana's tall men are seeking to change official standards in building codes and procurement of office furniture more suitable for tall people.