I Hate Prison Life - Shaka Zulu

Shaka Zulu, the TV star who got arrested in September 2010 for an alleged armed robbery, is still standing trial before the courts of law and has spoken about his experience in prison.

Shaka has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is currently on remand at the Nsawam Prisons.His manager, Felix Akpor, told News-One about how the artiste is coping in prison. Felix said Shaka has become a very unhappy person who feels neglected by his friends and even some relatives. “He feels greatly neglected and dumped by the very people who hailed him and celebrated his fame.

To a very large extent, it is only his wife who visits him and sends him food and other essentials. Anytime I talk to him, he tells me how he hates prison life, yet is grateful to God it happened because it has taught him a lot of things about life.

“Even at the courts, nothing much is happening and the case continues to see one postponement after another. Shaka is not a very happy person and always says he hates prison life. The fact that his closest friends have abandoned him also saddens his heart a lot.

Life is hard for him and he always talks about the day he would be released. He asks me if his friends would visit him at home when he is released eventually and he asks this question with tears in his eyes,” Felix stated. “So far, it is only the wife who visits him because all others have neglected him but I believe his plea of not guilty and I know he would come out soon,” Felix noted. News-One also learnt that Shaka’s two children are currently out of school due to financial reasons and his wife, Theresa, is also unemployed.

Theresa Cotey, wife of Shaka, told News-One in an interview last February that life had become very difficult for her as a single parent.

Speaking in the Ga language, Theresa noted: “How much profit can I get from the oranges I sell by the roadside? I use the same profit to feed the family and also feed my husband in cells. I am not complaining that I am sending him food but I do not have the means.” She said apart from the difficult situation she was going through, the shame of having her husband in prison was also wearing her down. Theresa disclosed that she got married to Shaka Zula some eight years ago. She said he was by then training as a professional boxer with Accra Star High but branched into showbiz because he was not getting a manager to promote his boxing career.

Shaka Zulu’s real name is Richard Cobbia and many Ghanaians fell in love with him after he played the role of Shaka Zulu in the video clip of 4×4’s hit track, ‘Fresh One’. He became even more popular when he started appearing in a TV commercial for Tigo. He was arrested in September last year with two others on suspicion of armed robbery.