Chairman Wontumi is a political prisoner, a victim of the injustice under Mahama — Kofi Tonto

Political Aide to the 2028 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Kofi Tonto, has criticised the 20-year prison sentence imposed on the party's Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi.

Chairman Wontumi, Akonta Mining Company Limited and the second accused, Kwame Antwi, who remains at large, were convicted on six counts relating to the unlawful assignment of mineral rights and purposely facilitating unlicensed mining operations within Akonta Mining's concession at Samreboi in the Western Region.

The prosecution said Wontumi, as owner and controlling director of Akonta Mining, allowed Henry Okum and Michael Gyedu Ayisi to undertake mining activities within the company's concession in 2024 without obtaining the mandatory written approval of the Minister responsible for mining, contrary to the Minerals and Mining Act.

An Accra High Court, presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie Tay, on Monday, July 20, sentenced Chairman Wontumi to 20 years' imprisonment and imposed a fine of 10,000 penalty units, with an additional three-year custodial sentence in default of payment.

Reacting to the ruling on Accra-based TV3's New Day programme on Tuesday, July 21, Kofi Tonto argued that government officials accused of engaging in illegal mining have not been subjected to similar legal action, despite public acknowledgment of the issue.

"There is evidence of people who are government appointees doing galamsey. The President himself has admitted it. There is no denial of that. All of these people have been overlooked," he said.

According to him, the disparity in how illegal mining cases are being handled raises concerns about the fairness of the justice system, insisting that Chairman Wontumi is being treated differently from others facing similar allegations.

"Wontumi is a political prisoner. There is injustice in the country because a President who promised us to fight galamsey has admitted that his own officials are doing galamsey. As we speak, not a single one of them is being prosecuted," he stated.