Wontumi's 20-year sentence is ridiculous, punishment for his criticism of NDC — Ahiagbah
The National Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, has described the 20-year prison sentence handed to the party’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, as “ridiculous”.
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.
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 judgment on Accra-based Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme on Thursday, July 23, Ahiagbah said the sentence was not justified by the facts of the case but was rather influenced by Chairman Wontumi’s political comments against the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“This whole thing is ridiculous. It doesn’t matter how you look at it. It’s ridiculous. It is just like if I want to find fault with you, you know what people say. If the police want to arrest you, they will find a million things," said Ahiagbah.
The NPP spokesperson argued that Chairman Wontumi was being punished for remarks made during the heat of political campaigning, which he said the party chairman had already apologised for.
He stressed that the case before the court was about reclamation activities on a mining concession and questioned why such an issue should attract a 20-year custodial sentence.
“If you look at why he was in court, you don’t jail somebody 20 years because he has asked somebody to go and do a good job of reclamation. You can’t do that. I mean, I don’t see where that is an offence," the NPP spokesperson said.
Ahiagbah said the NPP considers Chairman Wontumi a political prisoner and believes some of his past political statements contributed to the severity of the punishment imposed on him.