The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has disclosed that the government is providing consular assistance to the Member of Parliament for Asante Akyem North, Kwame Ohene Frimpong, who is being held in the Netherlands following his arrest on alleged money-laundering and romance-scam-related offences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addressing a press conference on Monday, July 27, 2026, Mr Ablakwa said Ghana\u2019s mission in The Hague had been actively engaging with Dutch authorities, the MP\u2019s family and his legal team to ensure his rights are protected throughout the legal process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFollowing his detention, our mission in The Hague has taken up the matter and is offering consular assistance to the Honourable Member of Parliament. They are coordinating with his family and his legal representatives as well as relevant Dutch authorities to ensure that he is treated in accordance with internationally recognised standards and that his rights are not violated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Frimpong was arrested at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on May 8 over allegations of money laundering and romance scam-related offences. His continued absence from Parliament has sparked debate over whether Article 97(1)(c) of the 1992 Constitution, which provides for the vacation of a parliamentary seat after 15 consecutive sittings without permission, should apply in his case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Foreign Affairs Minister disclosed that he had personally visited the legislator during an official trip to the Netherlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can confirm that on the 24th of May 2026, I personally paid the Honourable MP a consular visit in The Hague. I also noted that he was doing quite well when I engaged him. I also had the opportunity of interacting with his lawyer during my consular visit to The Hague,\u201d Mr Ablakwa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He further revealed that he had raised the matter with the Dutch Minister for Justice and Security, David van Weel, during a meeting on July 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn addition, during a courtesy call on me by the Dutch Minister for Justice and Security, His Excellency David van Weel, on 21st July 2026, I raised the matter with him and the Dutch Minister for Justice and Security assured that the Dutch government is committed to due process and will ensure that the rights of the Honourable Member of Parliament are protected,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Ablakwa said the government wished the MP well as he contests the extradition proceedings against him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has disclosed that the government is providing consular assistance to the Member of Parliament for Asante Akyem North, Kwame Ohene Frimpong, who is being held in the Netherlands following his arrest on alleged money-laundering and romance-scam-related offences. Addressing a press conference on Monday, July 27, 2026, Mr […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":52957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[9609,474,5754,11264,1045,6975,7960,11399,9387,9304,10339,6778,7209,5455,192,2264,8100,5205,10419,10776,9833,5612,10346,278,286,7964,1198,7385,972,7287,1046,5655,5456,3954],"class_list":["post-52956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-1992-constitution","tag-ablakwa","tag-airport","tag-allegations","tag-amsterdam","tag-arrest","tag-case","tag-debate","tag-detained","tag-detention","tag-dutch","tag-engaged","tag-extradition","tag-family","tag-ghana","tag-government","tag-hague","tag-july","tag-justice","tag-lawyer","tag-meeting","tag-money","tag-money-laundering","tag-mp","tag-netherlands","tag-north","tag-parliament","tag-romance","tag-samuel-okudzeto-ablakwa","tag-scam","tag-schiphol-airport","tag-security","tag-vacation","tag-will"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52958,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52956\/revisions\/52958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}