Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United States, Victor Smith, has disclosed that former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta was medically assessed and declared fit to be held in a detention centre by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before he was later admitted to a medical facility.Remove ads
Mr Smith said ICE arranged for medical professionals attached to the detention facility to examine Mr Ofori-Atta shortly after his arrest to determine whether he was medically suitable for detention.
“Yes, the ICE people confirmed 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,” the High Commissioner said on Joy News’ PM Express on Monday.
According to Mr Smith, ICE informed him that although the former finance minister was on medication, he was not under active medical care at the time of his detention and had access to his prescribed drugs while in custody.
“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,” he stated.
He stressed that the assessment was carried out by medical personnel and not ICE officers themselves, noting that detainees with serious medical conditions are typically referred to external healthcare facilities.
“They had caused him to be assessed by the medical personnel, not themselves. If he had any serious medical conditions, maybe they would have referred him to a medical facility outside the detention centre,” Mr Smith explained.
The High Commissioner also revealed that the Ghanaian embassy made efforts to secure consular access to Mr Ofori-Atta following his arrest but was unable to meet him because he declined to do so without his lawyers present.Remove ads
“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.
Mr Smith noted that ICE initially agreed to allow the embassy to visit the former minister, but the arrangement was later reversed.
“Just before we set out, the ICE agents came again and said the detainee had refused to meet with us without his lawyers,” he said.
After several hours of waiting, ICE officials returned with a final response.
“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 added.
Mr Smith said ICE officers personally visited his office to communicate the developments, describing the refusal as disappointing, particularly because no one had visited Mr Ofori-Atta at the time.