Dzifa Attivor
News of the passing of Dzifa Aku Attivor, former Minister of Transport has ignited a state of mourning among several people in the Volta Region and beyond.
There have been many commiserations from staff and listeners of Global FM and Volta 1 TV in Ho; which she founded.
Members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) across the Volta Region and the country at large have all been thrown into a state or mourning, DGN Online has gathered.
The Abutia Traditional Area in the Ho West District where she hails from has turned into a funeral home as many have started wearing black to signify the grief.
Madam Attivor who died at age 65 is reported to have been sick for a while. A situation that has kept her in and out of the hospital until she gave up the ghost last Monday, November 15, 2021, at the University of Ghana Medical Centre.
Her long-time aid and confidant, Egypt Korbla Kudoto, and several top brasses of the NDC in the region have confirmed the passing through social media without any details.
A Facebook post by Global 105.1 FM read “Grief weighs on our soul as we announce to the general public news of the passing of our mother and C.E.O, Mrs. Dzifa Aku Attivor.”
“She passed in the dying hours of Monday 15 November 2021 at the University of Ghana Medical Center (UGMC) in Accra.”
The post described Mrs. Dzifa Attivor fondly called “Viva Mama” as “a compassionate philanthropist whose boughs stretched across many a land and whose motherly benevolence touched humanity in immeasurable proportions.”
Many of the commiserations described Madam Attivor as a mother, compassionate, generous, philanthropist, inspiration, and a unique soul.
Although details are yet to emerge on the development, her family is expected to receive sympathizers at her Adentan residence in Accra from Tuesday, November 16, 2021.
Background
Mrs. Dzifa Aku Attivor was born on February 22, 1956. She had her basic education in Abutia-Teti.
After Secondary school at Peki and Kpedze Secondary Schools, she proceeded to study as a Stenographer Secretary at the Government Secretarial School.
She then obtained a Secretarial Silver Diploma from Pitman College, UK. Followed by a Bachelors’s and Master’s degree in Administration and Human Resource Management respectively from the American Century University.
Attivor worked with the Bank of Ghana from 1976 to 2003 in various capacities including a Research Clerk and Personal Assistant to three successive Deputy Governors and the head of Treasury at some point.
She later moved into a private business and set up the ‘DedeFund’; a Non-Governmental Organization dedicated to the support of brilliant but needy children, the course of women and the youth, including 120 cured lepers at Schohaven Lepers Village in Ho.
Politics
As a member of the NDC, Dzifa in 2008 contested the NDC primaries to represent Ho West in Parliament but lost to Emmanuel Korsi Bedzra.
In 2009, late President Attah-Mills appointed her as Deputy Transport Minister from 2009 to 2012. She became the substantive Minister in 2013 after John Dramani Mahama, her close friend became President.
She however resigned in December 2015 due to a controversial bus re-branding contract that opened her office.
After she resigned, she moved to the Volta Region set up Volta 1 TV and Global FM in 2016. She is said to have had other businesses too; considering her vast experience in the financial sector.
Her move to set up in the Volta Region is believed to be a decision to reconnect with the people and mobilize political support for her party, the NDC.
She then contested to become Volta Regional Chairperson of the NDC in August 2018. After a very vigorous campaign, she lost to John Kudzo Gyapong, who will later move to become the NDC Regional Chairperson for Oti, after the creation of that region out of the old Volta Region.
Personal life
Mrs. Dzifa Attivor who celebrated her 65th birthday this year was married to Raphael Napoleon Kwaku Attivor, who passed away in 2019. She has three children and she is a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.
From Fred Duodu, Ho (k.duodu@yahoo.com)