Former Transport Minister Dzifa Attivor is dead

Information gathered by GhanaWeb indicates that Dzifa Aku Attivor, former Minister for Transport under the NDC government has died.

According to a report by myxyzonline.com, the minister died in Accra, in the early hours of Tuesday, November 16, 2021, after being sick for a while.

She was 65-years-old.

Dzifa Attivor was one of the leading members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Volta Region.

The Ghanaian politician and businesswoman was appointed February 2013 as the Minister for Transport until she resigned in December 2015 due to a controversial bus re-branding contract.

The former Minister’s family is expected to receive sympathisers at her Adentan residence in Accra later in the day.

Early life and education

Dzifa Aku Attivor was born on 22nd February 1956. She started her basic education at the Evangelical Presbyterian Primary School at Abutia-Teti between 1960 and 1970.

Her secondary education was at the Kpedze Secondary School and the Peki Secondary School, both in the Volta Region of Ghana between 1970 and 1975.

She then trained at the Government Secretarial School qualifying as a Stenographer Secretary in 1981. She later obtained a Secretarial Silver Diploma from Pitman College, UK.

Her graduate qualifications are from the American Century University where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Administration in 2007 and a master’s degree in Human Resource Management in 2012.

Career

Madam Attivor worked with the Bank of Ghana from 1976 to 2003 as a research clerk and then as a Personal Assistant to three successive Deputy Governors. She also became the Personal Assistant to the head of treasury in charge of all general office administrative work in the same bank.

Attivor moved into private business. She also set up a Non-Governmental Organization named ‘Dedefund’, which is dedicated to the support of brilliant but needy children, the course of women and the youth. The NGO also cares for the 120 cured lepers at Schohaven Village located in Ho in the Volta Region.

Politics

Attivor is a member of the National Democratic Congress. She contested the Ho West constituency primaries of the NDC in 2008 but lost to Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah who subsequently won the elections in December 2008.

She was however appointed Deputy Minister for Transport by President John Atta Mills from 2009 to January 2012. After John Dramani Mahama became President, she was appointed the substantive Minister for Transport.

Regional Chairperson bid

Attivor made her intentions known publicly and launched her campaign to become the Volta Regional Chairperson of the National Democratic Congress in August 2018.

She campaigned on the ideas of changing the norm by selecting a female to head the region and the fact that the incumbent government had failed in delivering their promises, but she lost the elections and urged the members and other supporters to rally behind the winner and ensure a collective win for their party.

She was defeated in the elections in September 2018 after garnering 374 votes against the winner John Kudzo Gyapong, the incumbent who had 491 votes.

Personal life

Dzifa Aku Attivor was married Raphael Napoleon Kwaku Attivor, who passed away in 2019. She has three children. She is a Christian and a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.