A Deputy Information Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has condemned the seizure of the controversial movie; “Atta Mortuary Man”, describing it as needless and unnecessary.
According to him, the raid has given the movie an unnecessary hype and provided a ready market for it.
“Atta Mortuary Man” became popular when ex-president Jerry John Rawlings used it as an anecdote in a story he narrated about his friend, Atta, who works in the mortuary at the 37 Military Hospital when he addressed party members at the delegates’ Congress in Tamale last year.
Although reason for the seizure still remains unknown, the movie is perceived to be a mockery of President John Evans Atta Mills.
About thirteen thousand copies of the movie were confiscated from the offices of the Film Distributor, Nyankonton Films, at Opera Square in Accra on Saturday May 28, 2011.
A Deputy Information Minister, Baba Jamal, explaining the reason behind the raid said, copies of the movie were seized because the Producers did not complete censorship procedures.
He added that although the movie itself had been censored and approved by the Cinematography Board, its posters and adverts had not yet been scrutinised since the producer did not make them available at the time the movie was being reviewed.
Later, Baba Jamal revealed that upon investigations by the police, the company that produced the movie was not registered and was evading taxes.
However Eric Asante, producer of the movie stressed that “Atta Mortuary Man” has no political coloration and cannot fathom why the movies were seized.
He explained that “Atta Mortuary Man” is a comic movie in which the lead actor, Agya Koo, played the role of Atta, a susu collector who, after fraudulently embezzling the monies he had collected from the residents, decided to ran away from the vicinity.
Finding himself in a new locality, he had to pursue other jobs for a living and settled on being a mortuary man.
But Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Wednesday said even though the Information Ministry is the supervisory body of the Cinematography Board, they did not authorize any institution to confiscate the movies.
He said the movie had already been reviewed and approved by the Cinematography Board hence did not warrant further government scrutiny.
Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa noted that the raid by some security operatives drawn from the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has given cheap popularity to the movie.
He observed that the enthusiastic public are eager to purchase the movie due to the controversy surrounding it.
The Deputy Information Minister further raised concerns about the content of most movies in the country that reinforce nudity and pornography, describing it as amateurish.
He called on stakeholders to join hands in order to find a lasting solution to it.
Source: Myjoyonline.com/Ghana
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