Legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has defended the court’s decision to adjourn judgment in the Wontumi Samreboi galamsey case, describing the move as necessary to uphold procedural fairness and protect the legitimacy of the eventual judgment.
Speaking on the adjournment of the judgment to July 20, Mr. Kpebu said this would allow all parties adequate opportunity to file their written submissions, noting that such legal addresses can sometimes draw a judge’s attention to issues that may have been overlooked during proceedings.
“Sometimes just one line in the written submission, or call it the address, could draw the attention of the Judge to something that had been overlooked all the while,” he said on TV3’s Ghana Tonight, June 29, 2026.
He explained that even where the submissions do not introduce new arguments, allowing both sides to file them is an important aspect of ensuring fairness in the judicial process.
“Other times even if there isn’t anything new, at least it would then have satisfied the procedural fairness in terms of the optics,” he stated.
Mr. Kpebu argued that had the judge refused the adjournment and proceeded to deliver judgment on the initially scheduled date of July 3, the outcome could have been viewed with suspicion by sections of the public and members of the NPP.
According to him, critics would likely have questioned the speed of the proceedings and continued to portray the case as politically motivated.
“If the Judge hadn’t given this adjournment and had insisted on giving judgment on July 3, the judgment would have suffered a lot of legitimacy deficit because they would have kept saying it is a witch hunt, and would have kept making noise, saying, ‘Why was the judge rushing?'” he noted.
He commended the judge for granting the adjournment, saying the decision would enhance public confidence in the judicial process and help reduce unnecessary political tension.
“The Judge has done well by granting this adjournment. It helps to save our democracy from unnecessary tension,” Mr. Kpebu added.
On Monday, June 29, an Accra High Court granted counsel for Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, an extension of time to file a written address in the alleged Samreboi illegal mining case.
The extension granted gives Wontumi’s lawyer, Samuel Atta Akyea until July 13, 2026, to file any written submissions he intends to rely on.
The court subsequently adjourned the delivery of judgment to July 20, 2026, deferring its earlier date of July 3, 2026.
The adjournment of judgment follows an earlier application by Mr. Atta Akyea, who recently took over the defence, seeking a postponement of judgment to enable him to familiarise himself with the case and prepare his client’s defence.
The Office of the Attorney General opposed the application, arguing that it lacked merit.
However, the court on June 29 granted Atta Akyea’s motion but gave him 10 days to file his written submission instead of the 6 weeks he had requested.
Wontumi, owner of Akonta Mining Company Limited, was hauled before two separate High Courts in October 2025 on different illegal mining-related offences. In the first case, the prosecution accused him and his company of permitting two persons to undertake mining operations on his Samreboi concession without obtaining approval from the sector minister, slapping him with two counts of assignment of mineral rights without approval and two counts of facilitating an unlicensed mining operation.
The Attorney-General filed six criminal charges against the NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman, his company Akonta Mining, and one other individual identified as Kwame Antwi, a director of Akonta Mining, who is currently at large. According to the charge sheet, Wontumi and his company allowed two men — Henry Okum and Michael Gyedu Ayisi to mine on Akonta’s concession at Samreboi without ministerial approval and without holding a mining licence.
