The government of the United States of America says that although it is open to receiving requests for the extradition of Ghanaian fugitives from American soil, the process may not be “quick."

Chargé d'Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Accra, Rolf Olson, who was speaking at a media roundtable conversation with visiting Deputy Assistant Secretary for West Africa in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs William B. Stevens, noted that the U.S has established processes and protocols that will be activated in the event of any request for the extradition of any person of interest for Ghanaian law enforcement agencies.

His comments come in the wake of questions over why the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, is yet to successfully secure the extradition of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, who has been on his wanted list since the beginning of the year.

At the start of his trial in absentia Thursday, December 11, following the filing of a 78-count indictment alleging corruption and financial loss to the state, the OSP told the courts that while some of the accused, including Mr Ofori-Atta, are currently outside Ghana and have cited health reasons for their absence, it has applied appropriate legal mechanisms, including summons and cooperation with international law enforcement where applicable, to ensure appearances as required by law.

As of Monday, December 8, 2025, more than 3,100 people had signed a public petition addressed to the US Embassy in Accra demanding the extradition of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.

US-based Ghanaian Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, also known as Kwaku Azar, started the petition on December 2, asking American authorities to work with the Ghanaian government to help extradite Mr. Ofori-Atta, who has been officially charged with economic crimes and corruption-related offences.

It requests that the Embassy help confirm Mr. Ofori-Atta's location, encourage cooperation between Ghanaian and US authorities, and speed up the processing of any official extradition request.

However, commenting on whether or not the American government was willing to cooperate with local authorities to trigger any process in the US, Rolf Olson explained that processes for evaluating an extradition request on the American side are “very well-established and it is generally not very quick.”

He added that if the US receives a request, it goes through the various mechanisms. “But the door is always open to requests. There is no individual case that can be prejudged because US judges make the decisions, so they have the ability to approve or disapprove a request."

So far this year, American law enforcement agencies have extradited nine Ghanaians, with the majority of the cases linked to romance scams—an activity that has emerged as a dominant form of transnational crime in the West African sub-region.