Ghana engages US civil rights lawyer Ben Crump to help seek justice for Ghanaians killed in the United States
Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has approved engaging the US civil rights lawyer Ben Crump to assist in securing justice for all Ghanaians killed in the United States in recent months, at no cost to the Ghanaian taxpayer. The ministry's statement on Tuesday named the recent killings of 15-year-old Javits Frimpong and 24-year-old Joseph Owusu, both killed in the Bronx, New York. It gave no details of the legal steps Mr Crump will take, the specific cases he will handle, or the timeline.
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Key points
- Ghana's foreign ministry has authorised its New York mission to engage Ben Crump at no cost to the Ghanaian taxpayer.
- The statement names two of the dead: Javits Frimpong, 15, and Joseph Owusu, 24, both killed in the Bronx.
- Mr Crump's firm had already been retained by the Frimpong family on 6 November, after the teenager was shot walking to school on 29 October.
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- The ministry gave no details of the legal steps, the specific cases covered, or the timeline.
What happened
The killings of Ghanaian nationals in the United States have drawn in Accra at the highest level in recent weeks: President Mahama has called on the United States to curb gun violence after Javits Frimpong's death, and the foreign ministry has pledged support to the family of another Ghanaian woman killed in the US. Tuesday's statement extends that response into a formal legal engagement.
Ben Crump is a prominent US civil rights attorney known for representing families in high-profile cases involving racial injustice and police brutality. His engagement is expected to support Ghana's efforts to pursue accountability in the cases, the ministry said.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- That the ministry approved the engagement on Tuesday, on a no-cost basis, through Ghana's Permanent Mission in New York.
- That the statement names Frimpong and Owusu, both killed in the Bronx, among the recent killings it covers.
What we don't know yet
- The legal steps Mr Crump will take, the specific cases the government's engagement will handle, and the timeline — the ministry has not provided them.
- Whether the government's engagement is the same engagement as the Frimpong family's retainer announced on 6 November, or a separate one.
- The full list of killings the ministry counts as 'in recent months' — only two victims are named in the statement.
Claim by claim
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Why this label: The ministry's own statement, as reported by Joy Online, read in full. The approval, the no-cost term and the New York mission's role are the ministry's own words.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The two names, the Bronx and the quoted lines are from the ministry's statement as reported by Joy Online, read in full. The statement names no other victims and gives no dates for the killings.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The firm's own announcement, read in full. The family retainer announced on 6 November is a separate engagement from the Ghanaian government's approval announced on 10 November; the ministry's statement does not say whether its engagement covers the same cases.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why it matters
Governments rarely hire a foreign lawyer for their citizens' deaths abroad. Accra's move — pro bono, through its New York mission, and framed as covering every Ghanaian killed in the US in recent months — turns individual families' cases into a state-backed demand for answers, and will be watched by a large Ghanaian diaspora on both sides of the Atlantic.
Background
Javits Frimpong, 15, is shot while walking to school in the Bronx; police announce no arrests.
Ben Crump's firm announces he has been retained by the Frimpong family.
Ghana's foreign ministry approves engaging Mr Crump for all Ghanaians killed in the US in recent months, at no cost to the taxpayer.
Update history
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Published in Checking state — the ministry's approval is on the record, and the cases covered, the legal steps and the timeline are still to come.