The Bitter Truth Abraham Attah Must Hear!

Dear Abraham Attah,
I bring you warm greetings from Ghana. I don't know which part of the world you are right now and I cannot imagine which luxurious hotel is housing you at the moment. But I am happy to tell you that, back home, you are the most popular celebrity in Ghana right now. Your name is a household name. President John Dramani Mahama, has described you as a “positive positioning of the Ghana Brand.” And he is very right!

I want to use this opportunity to sincerely congratulate you on your enormous achievement. You first came to my notice when I read a very positive review about you on the internet. That was the first time I heard about the Beasts of No Nation movie. I am not a movie fan, but I was compelled to look for the film when you picked an international award last year. I was curious about what that movie was about and how Abraham Attah fared in it.

The Beasts of No Nation, in my candid view, was overrated. The production and the characters were great but the storyline is very poor. What, however, excited me was the quality you (Abraham Attah) and the other children in the movie exuded. Hearing that Beasts of No Nation is your first movie and the first time you acted convinced me beyond any reasonable doubt that you are very gifted. You will surely go places if you work hard and keep the few pieces of this advice I offer later in this letter. I am proud of you. And so are many Ghanaians.

In Ghana, you are celebrated in homes, offices, markets, classrooms, mainstream and on social media. I have lived in this country for three decades and my experience has taught me that there are two kinds of human beings that one must not say anything uncomplimentary about. They are the dead and people who are being celebrated. Ask Martin A.B.K. Amidu his experience when he took on Anas.

Yesterday, you wrote on instagram, “I know some of the radio presenters in Ghana are saying I gave a bad speech at the Independent Spirit Awards…”

Abraham Attah, let me tell you that no Ghanaian radio presenter said your speech was bad. No Ghanaian radio presenter said your grammar was bad. No Ghanaian radio presenter said you missed some words and fumbled. Nobody has said on radio that you don't deserve the award, as some people want you to believe. They are all lies and misrepresentation.

The fuss and the unwarranted attacks on the radio presenters you referred to are based on misreporting of what Lexis Bill of Joy FM and Jay Foley of Live FM said. About 95% of those who took to social media to insult and harshly criticize the presenters did not hear what they said. Neither did they know exactly why they were attacking the two presenters who have used their shows to celebrate you. They spoke based only on their emotions and not facts.

A lot of the attacks followed an erroneous article written by one Chris-Vincent Agyapong Febiri

When someone shared Chris-Vincent's article and condemned Lexis Bill and Jay Foley, I reached out and asked whether she had heard what they said. She confessed she had not heard what they said but her comments were based on the article. And did the writer of the article hear them? The answer is no.

Chris-Vincent started his article this way: ““I am told Jay Foley of LIVE FM, Lexis Bill of JOY FM and some other human being called MzGee ridiculed young Ghanaian-Hollywood actor-Abraham Attah's Oscar's speech because he fumbled and somewhat got his words and sentences wrong.”

The first sentence was the basis for his attack on the two radio personalities. Abraham Attah, you did not make a speech at the Oscars. What he wanted to say was your speech at the Independent Spirit Awards, where you were awarded the best lead role in the male category. None of the three people he attacked commented on the fact that you fumbled or got your sentences wrong. There are many factual inaccuracies in Chris-Vincent's article, which formed the basis for many of the attacks.

I listened to what Jay Foley said. He started his show by celebrating you. He called you“our very own.”He played the teaser of your acceptance speech and repeated the “thank you” once before remarking that you appeared nervous. Is this the reason to insult him and call him names for pulling you down and trying to destroy your career?

Later that day on the Airtel Entertainment News on Joy FM's Drive Time Programme, MzGee did two stories on you. It was a 10-minute show but two separate stories on you at the Oscars and the Independent Spirit Awards. The Entertainment News ended with your piercing “thank you” in which you stressed the “T” and it sounded like “Tenk yew.”

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Your sound bite ended the entertainment, so Lexis Bill said “Tenk yew, MzGee for the entertainment news, Tenk yew Evans Mensah (who was in the studio to present top story)…” to which MizGee replied in the same way to sign off that segment of Drive Time in the jovial way they always end it. They did not say any other word about you.

Some people think it is mimicking, and that was offensive. It is their view, and they are right to think about it this way. Where I do not agree with them is the level of insults the repetition of the “tenk yew” attracted. Listening to the presenters, the spirit behind the repetition of your “thank you” was not that of malice. They have celebrated you on the show several times and on social media and would not deliberately run you down.

It was just one of those light comments we pass daily in this country. In Ghana, we make humour out of every situation and of every personality. When we mimic Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's accent, the intention is not to mock him or portray him as someone who does not speak good English. When we repeat the late President Mills' 'My brethers and sisters,' it is not to mock his accent. It's for the humour in the unique way these great personalities speak.

Everyday, we record children who speak bad English or cannot recite the national pledge and other slips and play them on radio and television and share them on social media. We all laugh and move on. The comments of the presenters were not ill-intentioned.

Abraham Attah, be humble and don't fall for such traps. You acted very well in that movie. But the child who impressed me most was 11-year old Emmanuel Affadzi (Dike), who did the 3D action on the “Imagination TV”. For some, Strika should have taken your place. But God's ways are not our ways. So be humble and thank God for lifting you up. Always remember that there are thousands of ordinary children in Ghana who can act better than you but were not lucky enough to be spotted. Humility elevates.

Abraham Attah, you must resist mediocrity. Keep learning and get better. Don't think you have arrived. Don't let the tunes of the praise singers get into your head so that you settle for less.

When 11-year-old Serena Williams was asked in her childhood which tennis player she wanted to be like in her career, she smiled and told the interviewer: “I want other people to be like me.” When I watched it, all I could say was, “Wow!”

When, Heaven, a three-year old girl dancing with her mother became an internet sensation and The Ellen Show interviewed her, she blew the minds of the audience. When the host asked her whether she would be a dancer if she grew up, her answer was, “I am already a dancer!” The host apologised for asking the question.

Your career and future
My dear Abraham Attah, my investigation has revealed that you have been moved from your Ashaiman public school to a very good school outside the Greater Accra Region. William Adom Quaye who starred as Strika and another “child soldier”, Justice Promise Azudey, are with you in the same school. Apart from you, the two had never been to school before acting the movie.

I will urge you to take your studies seriously. Forget about your stardom and learn hard. Ignore those who are saying you must relocate to America. They are not serious. If you were in America, you would not have starred in this movie. If you lived in East Legon, attended GIS and spoke impeccable English, you would not be suitable for this movie. God made no mistake by putting you in Ghana. It was in Ghana that you were picked and put in a global limelight. You don't need to get out of Ghana in order to make it. Just learn hard and be determined.

Please, stay away from drugs. Women who are old enough to be your mother will begin to throw themselves at you. Avoid them.

You still have a future. But not everyone who starts well ends well. Find time to read about Macaulay Carson Culkin. He was one of the most successful child movie stars. At age nine, he was the star actor in the Home Alone movie. His life is in ruins now. He is trying to recover from drugs and a rather wretched life.

Abraham Attah, learn hard. And serve God well. Let Him guide you to fulfill the purpose He has for you. The God who made the once childless Abraham the father of all nations, is the same God who has lifted you, Abraham Attah, from the obscure slum of Ashaiman, on to the red carpet of the Oscars. And He has only begun with you.

I am your admirer,
Manasseh Azure Awuni
The writer is a senior broadcast journalist with Joy 99.7Fm.