“The dean of the Ivorians is 146 years old”, probably headlined the television channel 7info, Monday, July 10, in its evening edition. The brave man is called Atta Madoua, a farmer by trade, and lives in the village of Guiguedou, in the commune of Lakota (southwest). He celebrated his birthday with his entire community on July 6, the report says, and appears remarkably well preserved in front of the cameras, accompanied by his young wife of 94 years.
The posture is straight. The eye is keen, and the star of the day has no trouble getting up and greeting the audience, shaking hands or blowing out the candles on his birthday cake. “This farmer has iron health and an exceptional memory”, comments, without irony, the 7info journalist.
Guest of honor at this celebration, the RHDP deputy of Lakota Abdoulaye Kouyaté, chief of staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came in person to honor the dean. “146 years is rare,” he told the crowd, looking uncertain. His son tells us that’s what’s on the paper… I’d like to wish you a happy birthday! »
The discovery of the miraculous centenary comes as Côte d’Ivoire is in the midst of preparations for local elections, scheduled for September 2. In all the towns and villages, we distribute gifts with all our might, we honor the chiefs, the women, the young people… and the deans.
In May and June, the opposition through the African Peoples’ Party (PPA-CI) founded by Laurent Gbagbo, made its honey of the many errors noted in the electoral list. Habiba Touré, her chief of staff, thus denounced the thousands of duplicates, deceased or minor voters, and that of 4,638 centenarians, the oldest of whom would be no less than 170 years old according to her. “It is reasonable to doubt” that these people, born in the 19th century, “are still alive,” she quipped. It was reckoning without Atta Madoua. The venerable Lakotais would, according to his papers, be born in 1879.
civil status
Certainly, no official body attributes the title of dean of humanity, regularly transmitted under the vigilance of specialists, the media and the unshakeable Guinness Book of Records. Until April 2022, it was the Japanese Kane Tanaka, 119, then the French nun Sister André, 118, until January 2023. It is now the Spaniard Maria Branyas Morera who holds the title, at 115 years. But Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died at 122 in 1997, remains the longest-lived person in human history whose marital status has been verified. Little player: she was 24 years younger than Atta Madoua, much more spirited than all these young centenarians.
Beyond political and electoral interests, beyond the financial assistance that this providential dean could benefit from, it is the question of civil status that raises questions. Services very far from infallible, as recalled in June the president of the Independent Electoral Commission, Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert, irritated by the attacks of the opposition parties. The fault of the successive political crises, but also of the errors imputed to the manual transcription.
Although local authorities keep birth, marriage and death registers in town halls, the vast majority of these files only exist in paper form. Since 2022, the country has therefore wanted to accelerate the digitization of its civil status, which began in 2013. And the task is immense: in Côte d’Ivoire, only one birth in three would be declared. Atta Madoua could therefore see himself competing for his title one day.