Prove me wrong that Chairman Wontumi’s conviction is not a selective justice or a political witch hunt?

The reason for the NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako aka Chairman Wontumi’s prosecution, conviction and sentencing to a 20-year imprisonment is public knowledge. He had been accused of doing illegal mining in a forest outside his granted concession, using his Akonta Mining company.

All that the writer is interested in is the fact that Wontumi is now lingering in the Nsawam Medium or High Security Prisons, found guilty of doing illegal mining that has devastated some forest, arable and fertile land and surely, some water bodies. Right?

It is public knowledge that tens of thousands of Ghanaians, including foreign nationals, especially Chinese, are actively engaged in small scale illegal and alluvial mining in Ghana as I write.

There had been, and still are, situations where some Chinese/foreign illegal miners had shot dead native Ghanaians and gotten away with a slap on their wrist, I should think.

Chinese national En Huang, popularly known as Aisha Huang, had been involved in illegal mining, caused many atrocities, threatened to blackmail some government officials, and gotten away with it for years. It was only when she returned to Ghana after her deportation to China that the government mustered courage to prosecute and convict her for four and half years prison term. Did she serve her full sentence at all? I don’t know.

Going back to Wontumi’s sentence being a political witch hunt or a selective justice, Rockson Adofo, the writer from Kumawu/Asiampa, would like to ask President John Dramani Mahama and his NDC government a few questions.

Do they know that Ghana abounds in illegal miners of varied types and to various degrees? Are they aware that some foreign nationals are also doing illegal and alluvial mining in Ghana as I write? Are they going to arrest most of them, if not all, prosecute and convict them? If yes, when will it be?

Should the government know of the existence of illegal miners in Ghana but deliberately refuse to arrest and prosecute them amount to Wontumi’s conviction being a selective justice or a political witch hunt?

Does the jailing of such a big fish send a warning signal to the smaller fishes to beware of risking prosecution should they continue with their involvement in illegal mining? Is that the philosophy of President Mahama and his NDC government?

The writer is not in any way seeking to exonerate Wontumi from blame if he had used his political influence to abuse the laws of the land with impunity. He must pay for his offence. However, why only him but not the others?

May I remind President Mahama, then a contesting presidential candidate giving a promise to resource illegal miners if they voted him to power during his 2020 electioneering campaign? If he did not see anything wrong about illegal mining but rather encouraged and assured its expansion, why has his government jailed Wontumi for doing illegal mining?

The ramified small and medium scale illegal and alluvial mining is destroying Ghana. It is a ticking time bomb whose explosion will take Ghana back into her dark ages of fighting for survival and liberation from colonialism and tribal wars.

The custodial sentence for Wontumi brings forth two things worth noting. It will end the established nonsensical political “you scratch my back; I scratch your back” in practice by Ghanaian politicians and political parties. This belief of not being punished by the party in government has emboldened Ghanaian politicians to involve themselves in corruption, embezzlements, and malfeasances without fear. Now that the NDC government has been bold enough to jail NPP politicians of high standing, the NPP will surely do the same to NDC offenders when they come to power. And by this tit for tat, the politicians will start to do away with their nefarious activities and bad behaviours.

Secondly, politicians should note that their positions are temporary so they must not use them to intimidate or abuse others. There is a comeuppance for the bad things we do to others. Wontumi surely abused his position at certain points in the execution of his duties as NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman.

Did he and Simon Osei Mensah not treat the late Kumawu MP Philip Basoah badly in the second term selection of Samuel Addai Agyekum as DCE for Kumawu Sekyere District? I remember vividly well what happened to Philip Basoah.

When power comes your way, use it prudently, for surely, there will be a day of reckoning.

Some people in positions of power and authority talk and behave as if tomorrow never comes or there will never be repercussions for their bad actions. Let us serve the people honestly and respectfully when there is the chance.