I Regret Being A Public Official – Ken Dzirasah

The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Ken Dzirasah, has stated that he has regretted being public official. He made the statement when CHRONICLE contacted him on various allegations levelled against him following the death and the burial of his brother, the late Squadron Charles Dzirasah who had died in a mysterious lorry accident.

Hon. Ken Dzirasah threatened to take the Chronicle on when this story is carried. He said he was surprised that the press always delves into his personal affairs even when there was no need to.

“Why are you people trying to enter into my private affairs” he asked. My brother is dead, and I spent various sums of money on the funeral. Is it the business of your paper to know how much I spent on my brother’s funeral and how much was generated after the funeral, let alone to account for the widow of my brother.”

Waxing furious he charged, “Look, my brother, if you carry the story and the statement I have just made, I would still take you on… that I have not said anything to you… Even if you go ahead and publish the story with my version. You have scandalized me, and again I challenge you one; that one I can assure you about that”, the honourable Speaker intoned.

When the Chronicle asked whether it was wrong for the paper to ask him about his comments on the allegations levelled against him, he insisted, “whether it was right or wrong, I have already told you that I will still take you on; believe it or not. If you care to know, my brother died and left behind liabilities”, he stated.

“I am not annoyed with you as an individual, but I am annoyed with your paper”, he charged. Hon Ken Dzirasah, who lost his brother through a lorry accident on January 31, 2003 on the Sefwi Dunkwah Offin road, was accused of assuming the ownership of his brother’s properties instead of the legitimate wife, Mrs. Abiba Dzirasah.

The Chronicle gathered that the Speaker organised the funeral at his house in Accra without even involving the wife of his late brother in the planning of all the activities.

Traditionally, any amount realised after a funeral is announced to the public and the family together with the expenses, incurred but under this circumstances, the situation looked different except for a donation of ?8 million from the Bank of Ghana that was mentioned even under protest by the bank officials. Sources close to this paper indicate that the Speaker was the MC for the funeral and conspicuously, the name of Mrs. Dzirasah was missing on the funeral programme. Nothing in the form of a tribute was said by the wife of the deceased.