Minister To Be Extradited To US?

PRESIDENT Kufuor is in a dilemma. He has to choose between Ghana's relations with the United States of America and giving up his Deputy Minister of Finance, Mrs. Grace Colemen, who is wanted by US Immigration Service after been indicted by a Maryland Court for sending a Ghanaian woman to the US illegally (READ).

US Embassy sources in Accra told the Ghana Palaver that the State Department has written to the Ministry of Foreign Affair, requesting that Mrs. Grace Colemam is handed over to the US authorities to face charges in that country.

Mrs. Colemen's daughter, Barbara Coleman-Blackwell and her husband, Kenneth Blackwell, have been indicted for allegedly bringing a Ghanaian woman into the United States illegally and using her as an unpaid domestic servant for about 17 months. The three are charged with fraudulently bringing Margaret Owusuwaah into the United States and using her as an unpaid domestic servant in the home of Mrs. Coleman's daughter.

They have been charged with conspiring to induce an illegal immigrant to come to the United States, harbouring an illegal immigrant for financial gain and with recruiting an immigrant to come to and remain in the United States illegally. Mrs. Coleman and her daughter have been charged with force labour, confiscating Owusuwaah's passport and visa in connection with force labour, making a false statement to US officials and visa fraud. The indictment on Mrs Coleman means that the Asokore Constituency Member of Parliament will be arrested at any entry point if she enters the US even she holds a diplomatic passport.

When Mrs. Coleman was contacted on phone, she denied the story saying "I have not been informed of the United States request". Asked to comment on the case, Mrs. Coleman said "this is not a matter to be discussed on phone, you could have come to my office for us to talk".