An old photo of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (L) shaking hands with Wontumi (R)
The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi), has been officially charged by the state with multiple crimes in two separate cases.
In the first case, Chairman Wontumi, his company, Akonta Mining Limited, and the director of the company, Kwame Antwi, have been slapped with a total of six charges.
The charges, which are linked to the activities of Akonta Mining at Samreboi in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve, include three counts of “Statement of Offence: Assignment of mineral rights without approval, contrary to Section 14(1) and Section 99(2)(b) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006.”
The remaining charges are three counts of “Purposely facilitating an unlicensed mining operation, contrary to Section 99(2)(b) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006.”
For the second case, Wontumi and four other accused persons — Edward Akuoko, Owusu Bempah, and Kwame Antwi, the Director of Akonta Mining Limited, who remains at large — have been slapped with a total of seven charges.
The charges, which are also connected to activities of Akonta Mining in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve, include three counts of undertaking mining operations without a licence, one count of felling trees in a forest reserve without a licence, one count of abetting unauthorised felling of trees, one count of erecting buildings in a forest reserve without a licence, and one count of abetting unauthorised erection of buildings in a forest reserve.
It would be recalled that in January 2023, the then Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, announced that Akonta Mining was involved in illegality in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve.
The equipment and structures of Akonta Mining in the forest reserve were destroyed, and the then Akufo-Addo government opened an investigation into the activities of the company in the forest.
Wontumi, Akonta Mining, director slapped with 6 criminal charges
However, the then-president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cleared the company of any wrongdoing.
Akufo-Addo said that Wontumi’s company was not engaged in illegal mining anywhere in the country, at a gathering on January 4, 2023, when calls for the arrest of the NPP Regional Chairman were reiterated by Kenneth Ashigbey, the convener of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey.
“Let me respond briefly to the chairperson on the issue of illegal mining. I want to assure him and all of you that Akonta Mining is not engaged in any illegal mining anywhere in Ghana as we speak.
“Further, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has, through the agency of the Forestry Commission, with the assistance of the military, made the effort to cordon off all 294 sites of forest reserves in the country and rid them of illegal mining as we speak,” he said.
Watch a video of Akufo-Addo’s remarks below:
BAI/VPO
Meet the two prominent female lawyers with decades of experience at the Bar
