Dead Canadian Not Part Of Ed Fast’s Ghana Visit – Foreign Affairs

UPDATED By Mike Archer. The Canadian government is being tight-lipped about the death, in Ghana, of a Canadian official who died while Abbotsford’s Ed Fast, the Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, was on an official visit to the African country.

According to Ghanaweb.com, the senior Canadian official was confirmed dead last week while on official duty in Ghana.

The African press reported that the Canadian offcial, identified as 54-year-old Darrell Prokopetz, died, “after a hot session of sex and drugs at the the plush Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra” and that he was part of Fast’s delegation – a report denied by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

Approached Tuesday morning about the death, Fast’s office put Abbotsford Today on to Amanda Reid, Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

According to Reid the official was not a member of Fast’s delegation.

Said Reid in an email response:

• Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the Canadian Citizen who passed away in Ghana.
• Canadian consular officials in Accra are in contact with local authorities to gather additional information and are providing consular assistance as required.
• The individual was not a member of, nor in any way associated with, the recent Trade Mission to Ghana led by Minister Fast.
• The individual was not part of the recent EduCanada 2013 education fair in Accra.

Excerpts from the original story are published below.

Cocaine, Liquor and Sex

[excerpt] A senior official of the Canadian government was confirmed dead last Wednesday in Ghana, while on official duty.

Sources told Daily Guide the official, 54-year-old [Darrell] Prokopetz, who was lodging at the plush Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra, allegedly died after a hot session of sex and drugs at the prestigious hotel.

The deceased Canadian official was said to have died at the Nyaho Clinic at the Airport Residential Area in Accra where he was reportedly rushed to in an unconscious state after an alleged overdose of cocaine, liquor and sex.

Sources told Daily Guide that the night before he met his tragic death, the Canadian was seen on close circuit television (CCTV) cameras chaperoning two beautiful girls separately into his hotel room. The two girls were said to have spent an hour each in the official’s room.

The Canadian High Commissioner, Trudy Kernighan, confirmed the high profile death to Daily Guide last Tuesday in a telephone conversation. The Airport Police Station’s District Commander, Superintendent Aduhene Banieh, also corroborated the tragedy and told this newspaper that a coroner’s inquest had been conducted on the corpse; but he was not forthcoming with additional information.

The Canadian official was part of a team of powerful government and business delegation from Canada led by Edward Fast, the Canadian Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, who recently arrived in Ghana and had high level interactions with senior officials.

The delegation visited President John Dramani Mahama and a number of Canadian interests in the country.

The delegation’s successful infrastructure and extractive-sector trade mission to key sub-Saharan countries was marred by the embarrassing death. Incidentally, the trip was the first for Minister Fast to Africa this year.

Darrell Prokopetz was said to be a senior official in charge of higher education in Canada.

Official Silence
It was believed that the incident really rocked the Canadian High Commission in Ghana. The High Commission had rushed to 37 Military Hospital upon receiving the report of the official being rushed to the hospital but after combing all wards they could not find Darrell before they were informed that he had rather being sent to Nyaho Clinic.

Its initial reaction was to blame the Golden Tulip Hotel for negligence, but after the hotel provided hardcore evidence as captured on the CCTV camera, the Canadians relaxed their stance, sources told Daily Guide.

Golden Tulip officials were tight-lipped on the issue, citing a confidential pact with the Canadian High Commission.
[source]

UPDATE – 12/02/13 – 12:53

The Huffington Post reported Tuesday that Prokopetz was a project director with the Canada School of Public Service. “He was in Ghana working as part of a Canadian government program that helps other nations with civil service reforms. When he didn’t arrive for the Jan. 30 meeting with his co-workers, they called hotel security, who entered his room and found him, said the family member,” said Huff Po.

UPDATE 12/02/13 – 13:05

The Toronto Sun reported:

Government officials in Ottawa could not say Monday what Prokopetz was doing in the Ghanian capital of Accra, but The Daily Guide Ghana newspaper reported that Prokopetz was rushed to hospital on Jan. 30 “in an unconscious state after an alleged overdose of cocaine, liquor and sex.”

Fast, a buttoned-down MP from Abbotsford, B.C., was in Nigeria and Ghana from Jan. 27 to Feb. 1 leading a business delegation which included representatives from Bombardier, Corvus Energy, Magellan Aerospace and more than two dozen other Canadian firms.