Vice President Paa Kwesi Bekoe Armissah-Arthur has hailed internationally acclaimed Ghanaian child actor, Abraham Attah, for his feat and urged him to view the criticisms directed at him as something to spur him on to greater heights
“I know that once you become a star, people will like to bring you down and I hope that it will not discourage you because when they criticize you, they mean for you to even do better so don’t take the criticism as something to bring you down take the criticism as something that is helping you to go forward to excel to even do better than what you have done,” Mr Amissah-Arthur advised.
The Vice President gave the advise when he hosted the Beast of No Nation star at the Flagstaff House in Accra Friday afternoon upon his return from the United States where he presented an award at last Sunday’s Academy Awards.
Master Attah was mocked and criticized for what his critics say, was his poorly constructed tenses in delivering a short speech at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards in the United States at the weekend when he won the Best Male Lead actor for his role in Beast of No Nation.
Many Ghanaians jumped to the defence of the actor who has now entered Hollywood, and condemned his critics for their actions.
But Vice President Mahama who was excited about the achievement of Master Attah within this short time, asked him not to see the criticism as something to ruin his budding movie career but as something to encourage him to achieve the best.
Mr Amissah-Arthur further urged him not to allow the stardom and the international recognition distract his education which, he explained, would give him an added impetus to his acting career to achieving greater heights.
“I know that all the other children in Ghana are waiting to be like you, and therefore, you’ve become a role model. Look at your simplicity, your modest lifestyle, you don’t now start showing off because you are a global star,” he advised him.
He said Ghana was proud of him, saying “We congratulate you for what you have done but this is not the end, it’s just the beginning.You have to nurture that talent and the best way to nurturing the natural talent is to go to school.”
Responding, Master Attah thanked Ghanaians for the overwhelming support given him so far in his movie career, especially his parents.
He said he was not moved by the criticism and that he “felt normal”. Touching on how he felt meeting top Hollywood movie stars at the Oscars, he said: “I was shy”.
By Stephen Kwabena Effah|tv3network.com|Ghana
Twitter @steviekgh
