Political analyst and lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, Dr. Jonathan Asante Otchere, has said the incarceration of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Bernard Antwi Boasiako, a.k.a. Wontumi, has tainted his political influence.
He believes the kind of crime upon which Wontumi was convicted and sentenced crumbles his political authority, despite wielding a huge influence in the NPP prior to his jailing.
Dr. Asante Otchere, speaking on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, indicated that Wontumi would have still commanded some authority within the party if his conviction was politically motivated, other than the illegal mining or galamsey which constituted his charges.
He says the political power Wontumi had in the Ashanti region where he serves as Chairman, and beyond, is now is disarray.
“As long as this prosecution was not politically motivated, and that it is galamsey or illegal mining related, the brazing authority that he used to have, that aura of invincibility that he used to have within that region and beyond, I think is in tatters for now,” he stated.
The political analyst added that certain elements within the party, are, however, excited over the sentencing of Wontumi, considering the opulence he exhibited prior to and during the last electioneering campaign.
According to him, Wontumi’s political capital has been shuttered.
“But there are others within the party itself who are overjoyed because of some of the excesses that Wontumi displayed long before even the elections. Eg, displaying gold before a live TV programme and so forth. He exuded that kind of invincibility [but] it appears that now, his light is dimmed,” he added.
Wontumi was found guilty, got convicted and sentenced by the Accra High Court in a trial in which he and his company, Akonta Mining Limited, were found guilty on six counts relating to the assignment of mineral rights without ministerial approval and facilitating an unlicensed mining operation.
That was after the court, presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, held that the prosecution had proved its case that Chairman Wontumi and Akonta Mining permitted Henry Okoom and Michael Gyedu Ayisi to undertake mining activities on the company’s concession without securing the prior approval of the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, and thereby facilitated illegal mining on the land.
In addition to the jail term, Chairman Wontumi will pay GH¢120,000, in default of which he will serve three years in prison.
His company, however, will pay GH¢180,000 on two counts.
Relying largely on circumstantial evidence, the court was of the view that the absence of ministerial approval was never contested by the defence, describing the admission as implicit since no application for approval had been been made by the company.
Chairman Wontumi had told the court he had granted Henry Okoom permission only to reclaim land by planting coconut, and not to mine.
He said he did not know Okoom was a small-scale miner, maintaining that Okoom had presented himself as a mine support service provider.
The court, however, held that this explanation could not stand.
It added that Chairman Wontumi led no evidence to verify Okoom’s claimed reclamation experience, and that Okoom, in unchallenged testimony, told the court he mined on unmined portions of the concession to recover costs after Chairman Wontumi failed to give him money for the reclamation work.
Relying on the principles of circumstantial evidence set out in Duah v The Republic [1987-88] 1 GLR 343, the court found that no reasonable explanation existed to rival the conclusion that Chairman Wontumi had knowingly permitted Okoom to mine.
It dismissed as an afterthought Chairman Wontumi’s later explanation that he expected Okoom to recover his costs from the eventual sale of matured coconuts.
Citing the exceptions in the seminal case of Morkor v Kuma, the court lifted Akonta Mining’s corporate veil, finding no functioning management or executive board within the company.
It held that Chairman Wontumi was the true de facto holder of the mineral right and the sole controlling mind of the company during the period the offences were committed.
“The A3’s corporate veil should be lifted as there is no real difference between the two (Chairman Wontumi and Akonta) in relation to dealing with the persons permitted to mine.
“There was no functioning management board and executive management board to deal as a company. All acts were done by Chairman Wontumi, the true de facto holder of the mineral right,” the judge said.
Several lawyers took turns to pray for mitigation and urged the court to impose the minimum sentence.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the NPP has announced its intentions to appeal the ruling, describing their Chairman’s sentencing as politically motivated.
