Stigmatising Atta

President John Mills

A joke by former President J.J. Rawlings at a party congress a forthnight ago about ‘Atta,’ a mortuary attendant results in President Atta John Mills opting to be addressed as just "John Mills"
By McKnight Elabor, Accra
Recently, when the National Delegates’ Congress of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) convened to elect new party leaders was held in Tamale, Northern Region of Ghana, there was no indication whatsoever that 82-year-old Atta Kwabena Kummah, a mortuary attendant who hails from Kete Krachi in the Volta Region, will become famous – to the detriment of President Atta Mills. But when ex-President John Jerry Rawlings, founder of the NDC,  mounted the podium to address the congress, he told a joke about ‘Atta’ the mortuary attendant and in the process made him famous, much to the disgust of President Atta Mills and some of his supporters.
In a bid to spice up his address with a joke, Rawlings told a story about one ‘Atta’ who happens to share the same name with the current president.  According to him, Atta was a drunk who worked at the 37 Military Hospital mortuary in Accra. Rawligs stated that Atta told him that one day, while on his job at the mortuary, he was unable to go home because it had rained heavily that night. As a result, he stayed over at the mortuary and when the night got too cold, he took a white sheet off one of the corpses and wrapped himself with it in a bid to keep warm. In the course of the night, Rawlings continued, ‘Atta’ felt like urinating, so still wrapped in the white sheet, he went outside to take a pee. While doing that, a soldier came around and seeing him, the military man thought he had seen an apparition. Atta also saw the soldier and thought it odd that he was looking at him, having forgotten that he was wrapped in a white sheet. After glancing at each other with suspicion, the soldier took to his heels while Atta followed him. Finally, the soldier eventually started to scream and woke his neighbours that he had seen a ghost. Rawlings recalled how he had advised his long-time friend, Atta on numerous occasions about the negative effect alcohol could have on his health, but ‘Atta Mortuary Man,’ he said, would not listen. Eventually, the former president noted, his friend gave up his drinking habit, transforming into a healthy, good-looking worker at the same hospital, to the amazement of those who knew his past life.
Rawlings said Atta’s new image came to him as a surprise and a source of inspiration. He added that he then resolved to quit smoking in view of the fact that he was also a chain smoker or “a locomotive chimney” at that time, and that he (Rawlings) gave Atta a present, and in return Atta promised to “powder” the ex-president upon his death.
“I am in charge here, so if it so happens that my best friend dies, why not I would give him the best services I can offer his body,” he quoted the attendant as saying.
However, the story he told left a lot of people wondering what his real motives were. While some claimed that the story is directed at President Mills, who appears to pay deaf ears to some of Rawlings advice. Others said it was a move to compel the president to eventually heed his advice, be a changed person and reward him as “Atta the mortuary man” opted to do.
In his reaction, President Mills said “From today, after listening to the former president about the story of Atta, the mortuary man, I have on a lighter note decided to drop Atta from my name,” to laughter from delegates at the congress.
But since then, many have wondered if Atta, the mortuary attendant, really existed, or if he was just a creation of Rawlings’ own imagination to serve his purpose. Against this backdrop, a team of reporters went in search of the infamous mortuary man and to the delight of all, he was found to be real.
Atta, who said he had worked at the 37 Military Hospital morgue for the past 42 years stated that people commonly referred to him as “Atta’ or ‘Oluu’. Atta: “Those who say they do not know me may be new here or are telling lies; I was working here before the Nkrumah coup; I was working here before JJ became President and I was the one who told him that story. It is a true story,” Affa said
On how he felt now that the story had been made public, Atta said he personally listened to Rawlings telling the story from Tamale and that it made him feel good. He said some of his children and grand-children on hearing the news called to congratulate him.
Reacting to President Mills banter on the story, Atta said it was unfortunate for the President to have reacted that way. “If you are a mortuary man, it does not mean you should not be called Atta. My family likes my name and I’m proud to be called Atta,” the mortuary man stated.
Nevertheless, supporters of President Mills would have none of the tales being told by Rawlings. Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, speaking on Metro TV’s ‘Good Morning Ghana’ programme a day after, noted that he did not personally understand the import of the story.
He was unhappy that Rawlings chose to use a name that the sitting President of Ghana was using, adding that “the president never drunk or smoked. I feel the former President’s story showed disrespect for the Presidency. However, Fuseini said he was happy about the way President Mills dealt with the situation.
Nana Ohene Ntow, who was a co-panelist on the programme, added that the ex-president’s “comic relief was in bad taste and that the story itself was a morbid one for such acongress”.
Speaking with The Source, Ofori Kwesi, a resident of Accra said “the former president could have used a different name, even if the name of his mortuary friend was ‘Atta’, to preserve the President’s dignity.”
Notwithstanding, Atta argued that his job was important because he was responsible for keeping a corpse clean when a person died.  “When you die, I should powder you. Who will go to his grave without some powder on his face?”, he asked, with a high sense of dedication to his job.
“In this world, if your work is recognised in a good manner, you would certainly be happy, nobody would shun a good name. To the extent that when this issue came out, it was not said of me that I had stolen or done something bad, I am very happy. So if the former president stands on a platform, and recognises my hardwork that is giving me all the media attention, it makes me feel most honoured.
“Though I am not a financially well to do man, many people now see me and accord me a great deal of respect, and I am grateful to God for that,” he said.
But the old man certainly has his own problems, which he would want the government to assist him solve” financial difficulties and personal accommodation.
“Had it not been for poverty, someone of my age, who has worked for 42 years, should have been retired and looking after my grand and great grand-children,” he lamented.
He however, disclosed to newsmen  that he was looking forward to retiring completely from his current job in the next two years, but added that he had trained some young hands who would equally do a good job when he is away.
But even before that time comes, Atta has one request to make: an accommodation of his own. “If the government could help me put up even a wooden structure as my own place of abode, that would give me a lot of fulfillment,” he appealed. 
Funny enough, the grand old man has another side of him which is humorous. When one reporter asked him to sit close to his wife, so he could take a shot of them for publication, he remarked: “Are you going to publish me sitting by my wife? No, my girlfriends would see it and get jealous,” while moving to sit by his wife for the shots.