When the first announcement of the death of 41-year old Peace FM radio presenter, Mufty Dabre was made on the popular Kokrokoo morning show last week Thursday, most listeners had least expected it.

“Ooooh,” many listeners were heard to say. Jaws dropped, panelists on the Peace FM studio went silent, and many taxi drivers slowed down momentarily on hearing the news. It was shock all over.

Perhaps the only person not shocked by the news was Mufty Dabre himself. He had somehow been expecting death to come.

Mufty Dabre, a fine disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter on Peace FM died early Thursday and was buried in Kumasi the same afternoon as Muslim custom demanded. Family, friends and sympathizers were there in their numbers to bid him farewell.

At 41, Mufty had not been married like his friends had. It was as though he knew that he would pass away early and therefore did not want to put his family in grief. Again he liked music and theatre as though he found some solace in those activities.

One of the people who knew him well was Fadda Dickson, the Finance and Administration Director at Peace FM. He told Showbiz that Dabre had come to his office about a week before his death, complaining about headache and the fact that he had undergone several tests at different hospitals without knowing what was wrong with him.

“He felt sad, almost desperate, that he had been sporadically ill for about a year and nobody could figure out what the problem was. After telling me that a doctor had advised him to seek spiritual solutions to his health problem, he added ‘Fadda, I think I’m going to die.’ I tried to lift up his spirit but he somehow seemed convinced that the end was near for him.”

Dabre had tried to go about his normal routines though it was beginning to show physically on him that he was not well.

According to Fadda Dickson, Dabre was not in top shape when he accompanied Ofori Amponsah and other artistes to Germany during the last World Cup.

“He was not himself some of the time but he kept on doing things. He once went blank in the studio and had to be rushed to a hospital but he came back to work when he felt better. At a point he seemed to have a lot to say. His health was paramount to him and we talked a lot about it. I believe he went to Kumasi mainly to pursue a spiritual solution to his health problem. I admired his determination to hold on to life.”

Dickson said he was aware Dabre had a steady girlfriend at the University of Ghana, Legon where he was also a student in Theatre Arts. According to him, though Dabre had been contemplating marriage, he wanted to regain his health fully before taking the plunge.

Mufty’s close friend and business partner, Francis Doku, said in a tribute that Mufty was among Accra’s most accomplished bachelors and the fact that he had gone past his fortieth birthday but not married was a big worry to his close relatives.

“I remember him telling me more than once that his elder sister at Kumasi was one person he loved but did not like visiting because anytime she saw him she brought up the subject of marriage.

“Last December saw Mufty, myself and Fiifi Banson having a conversation on Peace FM. The subject was Mufty and when he hoped to get married. He assured me, Fiifi and those listening at the time that he was planning to get married to his sweetheart on his next birthday in March 2007.

“When the day was due and I asked him about his assurance his response was “kwasea do you think this is the time to get married”? and then produced his trade mark chuckle of a laugh to end that conversation”, Francis wrote.

Fiifi Banson, a colleague presenter at Peace FM, was still in a sombre mood when he spoke with Showbiz last Tuesday. He said Dabre was more of a brother than a friend to him.

“He adopted my mother as his own after the death of his mother so his death has been a big blow to my whole family. We were all concerned about how worried and confused he looked at a certain time because the doctors could not get to the bottom of his problem.”

According to Banson, Dabre knew there was something wrong but not finding a solution to it distressed him immensely. That, in his view, created a well of anxiety within which did not augur well for his already precarious situation.

“He was desperate to get well. He did everything the doctors required of him and his worry intensified as test after test proved negative. He felt really disheartened at some point.”

Kwami Sefa Kayi, presenter of the Peace FM morning show was also close to the late Dabre. He said he often jokingly referred to him as ‘Osama bin Dabre’ and had a hard time breaking the news of his death to Peace FM listeners.

“I’m used to making all kinds of announcements on the station but announcing the death of a colleague I had seen and talked to a week earlier was quite trying for me.”

Sefa Kayi said though there have been all kinds of speculation after Dabre’s death about what could have been the real cause of his death, he was not in a position to comment because he thinks attention should rather go to the pretty two-year-old daughter he left behind, Relwana Amama Dabre.