Some Judgments Settle a Case. Others Test a Nation – Minority Reacts to Chairman Wontumi’s 20-Year Sentence

Accra -The Minority in Parliament says the conviction and 20-year jail sentence handed to the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, and Akonta Mining Limited, is a test of Ghana’s constitutional order.

Addressing a press conference in Parliament this morning in response to the judgment delivered by the Accra High Court yesterday, the Deputy Minority Leader, Madam Patricia Appiagyei, said the development transcends partisan politics.

“Some judgments settle a case. Others test a nation,” Madam Appiagyei stated.

“Ghana will be judged, in years to come, not by the sentence handed down in Accra yesterday, but by how faithfully we defended our Constitution in its aftermath,” she added.

According to the Deputy Minority Leader, the Minority’s position should not be misconstrued as a defence of illegality or illegal mining.

She stressed that the Minority speaks “not as advocates for one man, but as custodians of a constitutional order that must apply equally to every Ghanaian, regardless of political colour.”

Mr. Antwi-Boasiako, 49, was on Monday, July 20, sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by Her Ladyship Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay at the High Court in Accra after being found guilty on charges related to the assignment of mineral rights without ministerial approval and facilitating unlicensed mining operations at Samreboi in the Western Region.

The case, filed by the Attorney-General, involved Chairman Wontumi, Akonta Mining Company Limited and one other director of the company. The charges bordered on breaches of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) as amended.

The conviction brings to a head a protracted legal battle that has seen the NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman face multiple counts, including three counts of assigning mineral rights without approval and three counts of purposely facilitating unlicensed mining operations, popularly known as galamsey.

The Minority Leader indicated that the Caucus will in the coming days interrogate the full judgment and outline its next constitutional steps, while calling for calm among party supporters.

The press conference was attended by several Minority Members of Parliament.