Ghana has approved the appointment of United States civil rights lawyer Ben Crump to help secure justice for Ghanaians killed in the United States in recent months.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, that Ghana’s Permanent Mission in New York had been authorised to engage Mr Crump without cost to the Ghanaian taxpayer.
“Ghana will go every length to secure justice and safeguard the dignity of our dear nationals abroad,” the Ministry said.
Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has spoken by telephone with Mr Crump and thanked him for agreeing to assist. The Ministry also recognised the cooperation and commitment of US authorities in efforts to pursue justice.
The move follows a series of violent deaths involving Ghanaians across the US.
Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, Victor Smith, said five Ghanaians had died in different circumstances since he took office, with guns involved in most of the cases.
The deaths under investigation
The Ministry’s Media Relations Officer, Fred Duhoe, previously identified four victims killed in less than 10 months.
Akpene Diamond Tetteh, 37, a PhD graduate, was shot dead in Savannah, Georgia, on February 12, 2026, only weeks after completing her doctorate. One suspect was arrested and arraigned in Savannah on March 3, 2026. A second suspect remains at large.
Dr Kofi Akamani, 48, a professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, was killed in Murphysboro, Illinois, on September 19, 2026.
In the Bronx, New York, 15-year-old Javits Badu-Nkansah Frimpong was fatally shot at about 9:20 a.m. on October 29, 2026, while walking to DreamYard Preparatory School. He was shot once in the abdomen near East 171st Street and Crotona Place and later died at St. Barnabas Hospital.
Frimpong had moved to the US barely a year earlier to join his father. President John Dramani Mahama described his death as particularly painful and urged the US to address gun violence.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said three hooded people wearing surgical masks chased Frimpong, shot him, collected the shell casings and fled on a subway train. Detectives were examining robbery, mistaken identity and bullying as possible motives. No arrest had been announced as of last week.
Days later, the body of 24-year-old Joseph Owusu was found in a large black duffel bag in Canarsie, Brooklyn, on October 30. Owusu, who had been missing for about two weeks, was a church organist at the Ghana United Methodist Church in the Bronx and cared for people with disabilities. Police said an autopsy was being conducted and that his cause of death had not been established. There is no evidence linking his death to Frimpong’s killing.
Reports compiling the 2026 deaths also recorded the fatal shooting of 33-year-old registered nurse Lartey Solomon in downtown Oakland, California, on May 31.
Government support
The Ghanaian government arranged an expedited US visa for Frimpong’s mother, Madam Doris Adu Gyamfi, to travel to New York. Ghana’s Permanent Mission in New York has also visited the families to provide support.
Mr Smith said Ghana could not accuse the US government of failing to act, but had the right to protest on behalf of its citizens.
“I have issued a statement expressing our unhappiness about what is happening; we cannot accuse the US government of not doing enough, but we need to protest that Ghanaians are unhappy,” he said.
Mr Crump, known for representing families in prominent US cases involving racial injustice, police brutality and wrongful death, had already been retained by Frimpong’s family and joined a justice march in the Bronx.
The Ministry has not said which legal steps Mr Crump will take, which cases he will handle or when the engagement will begin.
