– Dafeamekpor confirms arrest, but immunity question hangs
• Majority Leader flew from Heathrow to Schiphol for three-hour crisis talks
• Speaker, Foreign Minister, AG all summoned but arrest warrant still unseen
• ‘Hasten slowly,’ Chief Whip pleads as MPs cite Pinochet and Assange
Fresh details have emerged about the detention of Asante Akyem-North MP Ohene Kwame Frimpong, with Majority Chief Whip Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor confirming that the 39-year-old lawmaker was on a private trip but travelling on a diplomatic passport.
The arrest occurred on Sunday, 10 May, at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport while the first-time MP was in transit from Accra to London on a KLM flight. Dafeamekpor, speaking on Channel One TV’s Point of View with Bernard Avle, said his colleague was “in good spirits” despite the ordeal.
But the Chief Whip offered no clarity on the glaring contradiction: does a diplomatic passport shield a traveller on a personal errand? Or does its misuse expose the MP to even greater legal jeopardy?
Dafeamekpor revealed that he was the first person the embattled MP phoned. “Sunday, about 5am, he called me,” he said. Within hours, the machinery of state was rattled into motion.
Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga himself in transit at Heathrow dashed to Schiphol for a two-to-three-hour engagement with his “junior colleague”. Since then, the net has widened: Speaker Alban Bagbin, Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ghana’s ambassador to The Hague, and Attorney General Dominic Ayine have all been briefed.
“We have brought in the foreign minister, we brought in our ambassador, we brought in the attorney general because he has to deal with some legal issues in terms of the status of the room because he’s travelling on a diplomatic passport,” Dafeamekpor explained.
A Ghanaian lawyer practising in The Hague has been retained for the detained MP. “The lawyer is Ghanaian based in The Hague, but he’s qualified there, so he practices there,” Dafeamekpor said.
Yet crucial documents remain elusive. “Even the warrant for his arrest, we are yet to have the authenticated copy,” the Chief Whip disclosed, urging media houses to avoid speculation. “The prosecutor in Amsterdam dealing with the matter is yet to give those necessary documents to the lawyer.”
Dafeamekpor, himself a lawyer, cautioned against panic. He invoked the arrest of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in London and the Julian Assange saga to argue that even powerful figures face extradition proceedings.
“So these things happen. In our case, we are praying that the grounds are set that we can deal with the issues so that he can return home.”
But critics are already asking: if it was a private trip, why the diplomatic passport? And why did Parliament’s leadership need to scramble so desperately unless the arrest touches on something more than a routine immigration check?
For now, Dafeamekpor is pleading for calm. “Let’s stay calm and don’t let us jeopardise the issues,” he said, adding that parliament has provided all documentation requested by Dutch authorities.
The Speaker is seized with the matter. But as the clock ticks in a Dutch detention cell, one question grows louder: who authorised OK Frimpong to carry a diplomatic passport on a personal journey and what does that say about accountability in Ghana’s corridors of power?