Bernard Antwi Boasiako, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has sent a stern warning to private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu.
According to Chairman Wontumi as he is commonly known, if Martin Kpebu continued to tarnish his image he would sue him.
In February 2022, Martin Kpebu petitioned the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, accusing Akonta Mining of operating in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve.
Martin Kpebu in February 2025, criticised the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service for the seeming lack of progress in investigating mining activities by Akonta Mining.
Chairman Wontumi in an interview on his TV station stated, “We are a legitimate entity. Get your facts right. If you continue to tarnish my image, I will sue you”.
“When the allegation was levelled against us, we presented ourselves and our documentation to the Special Prosecutor and the CID. If we were guilty of the allegations, we would have been prosecuted,” Wontumi added.
The Ashanti Regional Chairman Wontumi of the NPP is known to be the owner of Akonta Mining Company Limited which is said to have been operating illegally in the Nimri Tano Forest reserve in the Amenfi West Municipality of the Western Region.
There have been calls for the prosecution of Chairman Wontumi for his operation in the forest reserve.
According to the former Akufo-Addo government, the mining company has a lease to undertake mining operations in some parts of Samreboi but stated the company has no mineral right to undertake any mining operations in the Tano Nimiri forest reserve.
Former President Akufo-Addo has also come out to defend the owner of Akonta Mining, he claims Chairman Wontumi is not involved in galamsey.
The former Minister of Land and Natural Resources Samuel Abu Jinapor last year also revealed that the Akonta Mining case has been forwarded to the Inspector General of Police.
Meanwhile, President John Mahama and the NDC promised Ghanaians to prosecute Chairman Wontumi for mining in a forest reserve.
