20/07/2026
CHAIRMAN WONTUMI SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS IMPRISONMENT WITH HARD LABOUR OVER SAMREBOI GALAMSEY CASE 🇬🇭.
Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has been sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment with hard labour by an Accra High Court over the Samreboi illegal mining case.
The landmark ruling, delivered on Monday, July 20, 2026, represents one of the most high-profile convictions in Ghana's ongoing crackdown against illegal mining (galamsey).
- Presiding judge Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay found the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and his company, Akonta Mining Company Limited, guilty of offences related to the unauthorised assignment of mineral rights and purposefully facilitating unlicensed mining operations.
- The illegal operations took place on the company's concession in Samreboi, located within the Western Region.
- Along with the 20-year prison sentence, Chairman Wontumi was hit with a personal fine of GH¢120,000 (10,000 penalty units).
His company, Akonta Mining Limited, was also handed corporate fines amounting to 15,000 penalty units per count.
~ A fellow director of the company, Kwame Antwi, who remains at large, was tried and convicted in absentia.
- The state successfully argued its case under the stricter provisions of the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act 995).
This amendment significantly increased the lower limit of jail terms for galamsey-related offences to 15 years and the upper limit to 25 years.
Before the final judgment, the court rejected a last-minute constitutional challenge from Wontumi's legal team, led by Samuel Atta Akyea, which attempted to refer the vagueness of the mining laws to the Supreme Court to halt the ruling.
Wontumi’s legal defense has expressed deep disappointment with the verdict and publicly announced their intention to file an immediate appeal.
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