US grants permanent residency to fugitive Ghana ex-finance minister

The United States has granted permanent residency to Ghana’s Ken Ofori-Atta, his lawyer said Tuesday, capping a saga that saw the fugitive ex-finance minister arrested by immigration authorities.

Ofori-Atta, 66, has been in the United States since January last year to receive medical treatment, including prostate cancer surgery.

In January, however, he was arrested by US immigration authorities over “the status of his current stay”, his lawyers said at the time, rather than his legal woes back home.

The former minister was declared a fugitive by Ghanaian authorities in February 2025 and formally charged with corruption in November.

He was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while applying to extend his stay in the country.

“Ken Ofori-Atta’s Green card I-485 petition has been granted by US Immigration Court,” his attorney Justice Kusi-Minkah Premo said in a statement.

“The Court finds the criminal charges in Ghana not credible,” he said, though he added the decision “was focused on whether Mr Ofori-Atta met the legal requirements for adjustment of status”.

Ofori-Atta served as finance minister from 2017 to 2024 under former president Nana Akufo-Addo and oversaw contentious tax reforms and negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

Current President John Mahama has pursued a crackdown on corruption, though critics say he has unfarily targeted political enemies.

AFP