Victor Smith, Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United States, has revealed that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed former finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta was medically fit to be detained.
According to Victor Smith, ICE had medical personnel assess Mr Ofori-Atta to show that he was fit to be detained.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express, Ghana’s US Envoy explained, “Yes, the ICE people confirm that he was all right. Initially, they had medical people to determine whether he was fit to be held in the detention centre, and they were convinced and were assured that he was okay”.
“He was on medication, but he wasn’t seeing any doctor at the time, and he had his medication, so he could be put in the detention centre. They had caused him to be assessed by the medical personnel, not themselves,” he said.
“If he had any serious medical conditions, maybe they would have referred him to a medical facility outside the detention centre,” he added.
Victor Smith further revealed that the Ghana embassy made efforts to see Ofori-Atta, but he refused to see them.
He detailed, “I discussed it with the consular officers of my embassy, and we decided to make a request to make sure that he was being treated properly, as per international protocols,” he said.
“Just before we set out, the ICE agents came again and said the detainee had refused to meet with us without his lawyers. After about a few hours, they came back to us to say the detainee, being the ex minister, had refused now to see us under any circumstances,” he said.
“The ICE agents came here. The representative came to my office,” he said.
“We’re a bit of a disappointment, because I know Ken personally. He may not be my friend, but I know him personally,” he said.
“Being a Ghanaian and being our responsibility, so to speak, in a host country, I felt that if we had had the opportunity to at least hear about, if he had some concerns for us, to probably try and assist. So shutting the door in our face and not wanting to see us under any circumstances was a bit unfortunate,” he said.
Also, Victor Smith has said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was involved in former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta’s detention.
According to Victor Smith, Immigration and Customs Enforcement handles immigration breaches, but when the FBI is involved, there might be a possibility of criminality.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Monday, Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United States stated, “I suspect it’s a combination of these two factors. ICE normally will pick you for immigration issues, but then, when the FBI comes in, then there must be some criminality or Interpol police request so that the red alert comes in there”.
“So the combination of the two of them convinces me that the Ghana government had requested this man to be brought in to help us, if you like, unravel some issues that have been brought against him as a former minister,” Mr Smith said.
When asked if he knew Ofori-Atta’s visa was revocked he stated, “No, Attorney General mentioned that to me”.