A market woman at Central Market has reacted to the 20-year prison sentence of Chairman Wontumi, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP.
According to the Market woman, Wontumi deserves a 30-year sentence and not 20.
She argued that Chairman Wontumi was flaunting gold bars on live TV while Ghana’s water bodies are being destroyed.
Speaking in a viral video, the Market woman stated, “Wontumi deserves to be jailed; he was flaunting gold bars on his radio station, bragging. He deserves 30 years, 20 years. Years is too small”.
Meanwhile, the Ofoase-Ayirebi Member of Parliament, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has said Chairman Wontumi, the NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman, has been incarcerated while the actual galamsey kingpin has been left off the hook.
Oppong Nkrumah argued that Chairman Wontumi was not convicted for engaging in illegal mining but over activities allegedly carried out by another person on land linked to his company.
The NPP MP was quoted to have said, “Several NDC persons whose submission of no case had been rejected by the courts and had a case to answer, have been left off the hook by the NDC prosecutors and the courts”.
According to Oppong Nkrumah, Wontumi’s conviction did not stem from allegations that he personally engaged in illegal mining.
“Instead, Wontumi has been jailed not for illegal mining but that someone who he argues he gave his company’s former mine to, for purposes of reclamation, was found doing mining on it,” he stated.
Oppong Nkrumah further questioned why the individual allegedly involved in the mining activity was not punished.
“And yet the actual illegal miner has been set loose rather,” he said.
“This is not law or justice. It is a weaponising of the justice delivery system. This is why the NPP considers Wontumi a political prisoner. The justice system has been turned upside down,” Oppong Nkrumah added.
Also, Martin Kpebu, a private legal practitioner, has cast doubt on the prospects of an appeal by the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi), following his conviction and 20-year prison sentence.
According to Lawyer Kpebu, he sees Wontumi’s conviction as a one-way street, as he sees no strong ground to overturn the NPP’s Ashanti Regional Chairman’s 20-year prison sentence.
Speaking on Joy FM’s News Night on Monday, July 20, Lawyer Kpebu stated, “This one, maybe I have a biased mind. It’s difficult. It’s difficult to really appreciate and come out with a strong ground of appeal for Wontumi”, he said.
“I think I see it as a one-way street, and in this one, he (Chairman Wontumi) is guilty as charged”.
“Our petition has been pending since 2022. That was in the Akufo-Addo administration, and it’s because of Wontumi’s political power, immense political power; the CID office at the time didn’t do much about it because of the obvious political influence”.
“So you see that because I’m not on Wontumi’s side, I can’t really see what grounds of appeal I would do for him. I mean, you said a strong one. You didn’t say what grounds can be formulated, but you meant a strong one. So I’m looking at what can get him free. I don’t see one”.
Watch the video below:
He deserves 30 years, not 20. How do you flaunt gold bars on live TV while our water bodies are being destroyed?
— Dr Sneaker Nyame (@_sneakernyame) July 20, 2026
– A market woman at Central Market reacts to Chairman Wontumi's 20-year prison sentence.
Credit: Kessben Tv pic.twitter.com/1abXAHcpJm
@ghnow_ “Chairman Wontumi will remain a hero and will not suffer” – NPP 3rd Vice Chairman, Chairman Buga #GHnow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ “Chairman Wontumi has been convicted in circumstances where there was no evidence to support the offence for which he was convicted.” — Justin Frimpong Kodua, NPP General Secretary #GHnow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
