Power play and an inferiority complex are the primary reasons Ghana quickly extradits its citizens suspected of crime to powerful nations like the United States, according to Richard Nii Armah, Executive Director of the Centre for Legitimacy and Rule of Law (CLRL).
He observed that while it remains exceptionally difficult to secure the extradition of suspected criminals—including Ghanaian nationals—from these Western nations back to Ghana, the country consistently rushes to surrender its own people.
The lawyer made these remarks in response to recent high-profile extraditions of Ghanaian citizens to the United States to face prosecution for alleged romance scams, wire fraud, money laundering, and other criminal offences.
Mr Armah noted that securing an extradition request from the US and other Western nations can take years.
He argued that Ghana must exercise restraint, questioning the tangible benefits the nation derives from rushing such processes, and urged local authorities to assert greater legal sovereignty.
“The reason why it is so easy for Ghana to extradite its own citizens to America for prosecution is due to power play and inferiority complex. Traditionally, when the whites submit extradition requests, we are in a hurry to grant these requests. I don’t know whether we get any monetary benefits or any other value for doing that,” he said.
“I think it is about time our judges and investigative bodies, such as the CID and Police, change their approach so that when the whites submit extradition requests, we do not hand our citizens over so easily. This is because they have a very rigid system that makes it so difficult to grant extradition requests, especially when the person is well-resourced and pays huge sums of taxes to America,” he added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana