An Accra High Court has jailed a Ghana opposition regional chairman for 20 years over an illegal mining case that has gripped the country for months.
Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, sitting at the Criminal Division of the High Court, delivered the judgment shortly after 11:40am on Monday, according to a report by MyJoyOnline. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, widely known as Chairman Wontumi and serving as the New Patriotic Party’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, was found guilty on charges tied to the Samreboi mining concession in the Western Region.
As a Ghana opposition regional chairman, Wontumi held significant influence within the NPP, which currently sits outside government. His conviction is being described by Graphic Online as bringing an end to one of the country’s most closely watched illegal mining prosecutions.
The court, as reported by Citi Newsroom, convicted Wontumi on two counts: assigning mineral rights without ministerial approval, and purposefully facilitating unlawful mining activities. The two 20 year terms will run concurrently. Justice Kocuvie-Tay also fined him 10,000 penalty units on each count, amounting to GH¢120,000, according to Graphic Online, with a default term of three years’ imprisonment should the fine go unpaid.
The Ghana opposition regional chairman company, Akonta Mining Limited, was separately convicted on two counts and fined 15,000 penalty units per count, Citi Newsroom reported. The court ruled that Akonta Mining had permitted two individuals, named in the judgment as Henry Okoom and Michael Gyedu Ayisi, to carry out mining activity on its concession without securing prior ministerial approval, Graphic Online noted. Wontumi had told the court the men were only authorised to reclaim land through coconut planting, not mining, but the judge rejected that defence as unsupported by evidence.
The convictions rest on the Minerals and Mining Act of 2006, as strengthened by the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act of 2020, which raised penalties for illegal mining offences, both Citi Newsroom and Graphic Online confirmed.
Judgment had initially been scheduled for 3 July but was pushed back after Wontumi’s legal team asked for more time to study the case file, ModernGhana reported at the time. A further attempt by the defence, filed on 16 July, sought to delay the ruling again and refer constitutional questions to the Supreme Court. The court dismissed that application before proceeding to convict the Ghana opposition regional chairman on Monday, according to Citi Newsroom’s courtroom coverage.
Concerns about Akonta Mining’s operations are not new. Fact-Check Ghana reported that as far back as September 2022, the Minerals Commission and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources had flagged the company for operating without proper documentation inside the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve, with further leases identified around Samreboi weeks later.
Reaction to the sentencing has split along political lines. Lawyer Martin Kpebu, speaking on TV3 and cited by Ghanamma, said the ruling showed Ghana’s courts could hold powerful figures to account regardless of political standing. He said the case carried weight precisely because of how much influence people associated with Wontumi within the NPP, adding that seeing him in the dock as judgment was read proved the system could still function.
Not everyone agreed. ModernGhana reported that some NPP supporters called the sentence excessive, arguing it did not match the nature of the offences. The court, for its part, maintained that the 20 year term falls within the range permitted under Ghana’s mining laws.
Kpebu acknowledged that the Ghana opposition regional chairman retains the right to appeal, noting the appellate process remains open to him under Ghanaian law, Ghanamma reported.
The case unfolds against a backdrop of renewed state action against illegal mining, known locally as galamsey. Reporting by AllAfrica in October 2025 detailed a joint operation by the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat and the Blue Water Guards, which seized a dozen excavators and arrested three people across the Western and Eastern regions in a single week.
The sentencing of the Ghana opposition regional chairman now stands as the most prominent scalp yet in that broader crackdown, and one that directly touches Ghana’s political class rather than small scale operators.
