Lawyer and activist Oliver Barker Vormawor has questioned why former Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta has not been deported to Ghana, suggesting Washington may be holding him as political leverage.
In a Facebook post, the activist argued that if American authorities genuinely intended to send the former minister home, they would have done so the moment his visa was reportedly cancelled, rather than allow the matter to drift through diplomatic and legal channels.
Had Washington wanted Ofori Atta back, Barker Vormawor said, they “would have bundled him on a flight to Ghana” immediately after cancelling his visa.
He claimed that similar swift action had been taken against other West African nationals in the past, including cases where deportations proceeded despite ongoing court proceedings in the United States. The continued delay, he argued, points to political calculation rather than legal complexity.
The activist suggested that Ofori Atta could be retained as a pressure point while the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government continues to push for his return. In his view, leverage rather than law explains the holdup.
Barker Vormawor also drew a historical parallel, invoking the 1985 Soussoudis affair from the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) era, a Cold War intelligence dispute between Ghana and the United States. Ghana, he cautioned, should remain mindful of past diplomatic confrontations of that kind.
The post comes amid sustained domestic interest in the whereabouts and legal status of the former minister, who has been the subject of investigations at home over his stewardship of the Ministry of Finance during the previous administration.
