The High Court in Accra has fixed 4th November 2026 to decide whether Mr. Bernard Antwi Boasiako, widely known as Chairman Wontumi, should be granted bail after his jailing. The former Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party is asking the court to release him from prison while he appeals his 20-year sentence for illegal mining offences connected to his concession at Samreboi in the Western Region. The case was first supposed to be heard on 19th August but was adjourned because Mr. Boasiako and his main lawyer, Samuel Atta Akyea, did not show up in court. The State, through Deputy Attorney-General Dr Srem-Sai, is against the request, arguing that the former party chairman could run away if released.
Mr. Boasiako is currently serving his sentence at Nsawam Maximum Security Prison after he was found guilty on 20th July 2026. Criminal Court 4, presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, sentenced him to 20 years in hard labour plus a fine of GH¢120,000. The court found him and his company, Akonta Mining Company Limited, guilty on six charges including giving out mineral rights without approval from the Minister and supporting mining without licence, which goes against the Minerals and Mining Act 2006, Act 703. According to the court, in 2024, Boasiako allowed people to mine on his concession without written permission from the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, an act that later led to the arrest of 29 people and seizure of guns and GH¢157,000 during an anti-galamsey operation in April 2025.
Many people know him as Chairman Wontumi, but his full name is Bernard Antwi Boasiako. He was born on 1st May 1976 in Kumasi and attended Prempeh College. Before politics, he worked as a cleaner in the United Kingdom and later returned to Ghana to build businesses, including Akonta Mining Company Limited, which was registered on 5th November 2010, as well as Wontumi Radio and Movement TV. He has led the NPP in Ashanti Region since 25th January 2014 after winning the position and retaining it in 2018 and 2022, making him one of the most powerful and controversial figures in the party’s stronghold.
Apart from the galamsey case, Boasiako has another case before a different High Court over alleged financial irregularities at the Ghana Export-Import Bank. Prosecutors allege that between 2018 and 2022, he and his company Wontumi Farms Limited collected GH¢14.3 million from EXIM Bank by using fake invoices said to be from Epsons Ghana Limited. The total loss to the state is said to be over GH¢30 million. That second case has been adjourned to 27th October 2026 for Case Management Conference after the prosecution filed a new charge sheet on 22nd September 2026.
All eyes are now on the High Court as it prepares to rule on 4th November whether he will stay in jail to continue his 20-year term or be released on bail while he fights both the mining appeal and the EXIM Bank trial.
