The Member of Parliament for Akim Swedru, Kennedy Osei Nyarko of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has called on Ghanaian lawyers and legal professionals to educate the public on the country’s extradition laws, arguing that most citizens are unaware of the legal limits around surrendering Ghanaians to foreign jurisdictions.
In a social media post that has attracted significant attention, the lawmaker stated that Ghana currently has no extradition treaty with any country other than its former colonial ruler, Britain, and that any court-ordered extradition of a Ghanaian to any other country without a treaty ratified by Parliament is unlawful.
“Why are our lawyers and legal luminaries not educating the Ghanaian people to understand that Ghana as it stands has no extradition treaty with any country in the world except our colonial masters, the British,” the MP wrote. “No court in Ghana has the powers to extradite any Ghanaian to any other country without a ratification duly passed by Parliament. It’s illegal for any institution or court in Ghana to grant extradition of any Ghanaian to any country except Britain.”
His remarks were triggered by the Gbese District Court’s ruling on March 27, 2026, which approved the extradition of Frederick Kumi, popularly known as Abu Trica, to the United States to face prosecution over an alleged multi-million-dollar romance scam. The court dismissed an application by his legal team seeking to halt the process and ruled that the offences satisfied the principle of double criminality, a key criterion in extradition cases.
Abu Trica was first arrested on December 11, 2025, following an indictment by US authorities over his alleged role in a large-scale online romance scam valued at more than $8 million. US prosecutors alleged he was part of a criminal network that used artificial intelligence software to create fake identities and cultivate intimate online relationships with elderly Americans, who were later manipulated into transferring money under false pretenses.
The MP’s legal argument, however, sits in contested territory. Abu Trica’s own defence lawyers argued before the court that the offences cited, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, are not explicitly listed as extraditable offences under the 1931 extradition treaty between Ghana and the United States. The existence of that treaty, inherited from the United Kingdom-United States agreement applicable to Ghana through its Commonwealth status and given domestic effect through the Extradition Act, 1960 (Act 22), directly contradicts the MP’s position that no such treaty with the US exists.
Ghana’s Extradition Act, 1960 (Act 22), provides that where an arrangement has been made with any country for the surrender of fugitive criminals, the President may by legislative instrument order that the Act shall apply in the case of that country, and such an arrangement must be formalised through an order laid before Parliament. Legal experts have noted that this framework allows extradition both through formal bilateral treaties and through diplomatic arrangement, broadening the scope beyond what the MP has described.
The US and Ghana have a longstanding extradition treaty, which provides the legal basis for cooperation on criminal matters. Ghana’s Extradition Act, 1960, further enables cooperation with foreign states, including the US, to arrest and extradite individuals wanted for crimes abroad.
The Akim Swedru MP’s call for public legal education nonetheless taps into genuine uncertainty among ordinary Ghanaians about the extent of their rights and protections when faced with foreign extradition requests, and comes as Ghana’s cooperation with US law enforcement agencies on cybercrime matters has intensified.
