Ghana’s opposition has erupted in anger after the illegal mining case against Bernard Antwi Boasiako, better known as Chairman Wontumi, ended with a 20-year prison sentence. The ruling was handed down in Accra on Monday and included hard labour, making it one of the strongest penalties seen in the country’s campaign against illegal mining.
Boasiako is the Ashanti regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party and one of its most influential figures. He was also ordered to pay more than $10,000 in fines. Court officials said he was convicted of assigning mineral rights without approval and helping run an unlicensed mining operation through his company, Akonta Mining. The case has put the spotlight back on Ghana’s long struggle with illegal mining, a practice widely known locally as galamsey.
He had denied the charges and, according to reports from the courtroom, appeared stunned when the judge delivered the sentence. Prosecutors said he allowed two men, Henry Okum and Michael Gyedu Ayisi, to carry out mining on Akonta Mining’s concession without approval from the minister of lands and natural resources. Boasiako is the first senior politician in Ghana to be convicted of illegal mining since the government began a crackdown in 2017.
