Jailed Wontumi files an application for bail pending appeal at the High Court

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Makay
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Chairman Wontumi

 The Ashanti Region Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, aka Chairman Wontumi, has filed an application at the High Court seeking to be released on bail pending the determination of his appeal against his conviction and prison sentence.

Wontumi’s legal team is asking the court to grant his release while the appeal challenging the judgment is heard.

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The court is scheduled to hear the application on August 19, 2026. Wontumi is currently being held at Nsawam Medium Security Prison serving a 20-year jail term.

Lead counsel, Samuel Atta Akyea, indicated that the application is in accordance with Section 96(1) of Act 30 and Section 33(1) of Act 459.

“Take Notice that this Honourable Court will be moved by Counsel for and on behalf of the 1st Appellant/Applicant (“Applicant”) herein praying the Court for an order that the Applicant, who is currently incarcerated at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons, be admitted to bail pending appeal upon the grounds stated in the accompanying affidavit and for any further order(s) as this Honourable Court may deem meet,” parts of the application read.

“Court to be moved on Wednesday, 19TH day of August 2026 at 9 o’clock in the forenoon or so soon thereafter as Counsel for the 1st and 3rd Appellants may be heard.”

Meanwhile, Lawyer for the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Chairman Wontumi, Samuel Atta Akyea has disclosed that his client is doing very fine and is in high spirits.

According to Lawyer Atta Akyea, his client has filed an appeal against his 20-year prison sentence, adding that the legal team will also file an application for bail pending the determination of the appeal.

Speaking to the media at the premises of the High Court on July 31, 2026, Atta Akyea stated, “He is very fine and in high spirits. He is also excited that we have lodged an appeal, and we will pursue it”.

“We will bring an application for bail pending appeal, so these are all the options we have, and we will exercise them properly,” he added.

His comments follow Chairman Wontumi and Akonta Mining Company Limited have filed an appeal against their sentences in the Samreboi illegal mining case.

Wontumi is asking the Court of Appeal to overturn the High Court’s judgment and acquit and discharge them on all four counts.

Chairman Wontumi’s notice of appeal, filed on Tuesday, July 28, challenges the entire judgment delivered by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay of the High Court’s Criminal Division 4 on July 20.

He is being represented by Samuel Atta Akyea; the appellants argue that the convictions are unreasonable and unsupported by the evidence presented during the trial.

According to them, the trial judge misinterpreted key provisions of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), as amended, and failed to consider the combined effect of sections 13(8) and 46 of the Act, which they say cleared them.

“Take Notice that the 1st and 3rd Accused persons/Appellants (“Appellants”) herein, who are dissatisfied with the judgment of the High Court (Criminal Division ‘4’), Accra, presided over by Her Ladyship Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, J., dated the 20th day of July 2026, do hereby appeal to the Court of Appeal upon the grounds set out in paragraph 3 hereof and will, at the hearing of the appeal, seek the reliefs set out in paragraph 4. And the 1st and 3rd Appellants further state that the names and addresses of the persons directly affected by the appeal are set out in paragraph 6,” part of the court document, which was dated July 28, 2026, read.

“GROUNDS OF APPEAL

a. The convictions are unreasonable and cannot be supported having regard to the evidence adduced at the trial.

b. The learned trial judge did not read the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), as amended, as a whole. The combined effect of sections 13(8) and 46 of the said Act is exculpatory of the 1st and 3rd Appellants and consistent with their innocence.

c. The learned trial Judge usurped the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in flagrant contravention of Article 130(1)(a) and (2) of the 1992 Constitution in interpreting Article 19 of the Constitution against sections 14(1), 59 and 99(2)(b) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), as amended, and section 3 of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2019 (Act 995), as clear, when both parties have rival meanings of the words ‘unless the offence is defined…. in a written law’,” the document further stated.

See the court motion below:

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