The Mayo Clinic has confirmed former Ghanaian Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is scheduled for prostate cancer surgery on June 13, 2025, providing medical context for his absence from a corruption investigation.
In a May 14 letter, the U.S.-based hospital stated imaging and biopsy tests in March confirmed Ofori-Atta’s diagnosis, requiring surgical intervention under urologist Dr. Paras Shah. Dr. Ahmed Abdalrhím of Mayo Clinic’s International Medicine section noted Ofori-Atta will need recovery time before returning to Ghana.
This medical disclosure follows the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s (OSP) June 3 declaration reclassifying Ofori-Atta as a fugitive after he missed a June 2 appearance deadline. The OSP had stated: “We want him here physically… A suspect in a criminal investigation does not pick and choose how the investigative body conducts its investigations.” The conflicting positions—medical necessity versus prosecutorial insistence on physical presence—intensify the legal standoff, with no indication yet whether the OSP will adjust its stance given the surgical confirmation.
