The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi whopping $45 million COCOBOD rehabilitation road contract has been leaked.
The document leaked revealed how the Ghana Cocoa Board, made the payment of a whopping US$45 million to a company called Hallmark Civil Engineering Limited linked to Chairman Wontumi.
The money was dished out to Wontumi for the construction of Dadieso-Akontombra Road in the Western North Region within Twenty-Four (24) calendar months.
According to reports, Wontumi company failed to construct the road after receiving the money.
Reports suggest Wontumi’s Hallmark Civil Engineering Limited, was registered in 2018 and was incorporated on February 19, 2018, to do building construction, road construction, and others.
However, the company after registration was awarded a colossal job from the Ghana Cocoa Board with no proof of their skill.
Ghana Chronicles in a post on X wrote, “Wontumi’s company, which was registered in 2018, received a $45 million road contract from Cocobod by November 2020. The project covers only 20 kilometres of road meaning each kilometre is costing $2 million. And this is just for road rehabilitation”.
Meanwhile, Chairman Wontumi has stated the allegations are absolutely untrue.
On Monday, May 26, shortly after being granted bail in a separate case involving alleged illegal mining, Chairman Wontumi told the media, “It is absolutely untrue that I collected money from COCOBOD”.
“If you are constructing a road, the government doesn’t give you the money upfront—you use your own funds”, he added.
“The contractor is reimbursed only after the road is completed. At that point, engineers from the Ghana Highways Authority and COCOBOD assess the project and value it based on the agreed rates”, he explained.
Wontumi added that the contract specified payment within 28 days of project completion.
However, he asserted that COCOBOD took nearly three years to fulfill its financial obligation.
“So COCOBOD cannot claim they do not owe me,” he added.
Chairman Wontumi, was also fingered for allegedly receiving GH¢50m from former deputy COCOBOD CEO Emmanuel Ray Ankrah.
According to the report the payment was made despite the Chief of Staff’s Julius Debrah explicit instruction to all state institutions to suspend payments.
The Ghana Chronicles in a post on X wrote, “ According to credible sources, on January 8, 2025, Wontumi received a whopping GH₵50,871,811.52 from the then-Deputy Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Emmanuel Ray Ankrah.
This payment was made, despite Mr Debrah’s explicit instruction to all state institutions to suspend payments until the incoming government had reviewed all outstanding payment certificates.
The payment was made for a cocoa roads project executed by Hallmark Civil Engineering, a company owned by Mr Boasiako”.
See the post below:
Wontumi’s company, which was registered in 2018, received a $45 million road contract from Cocobod by November 2020. The project covers only 20 kilometers of road—meaning each kilometer is costing $2 million. And this is just for road rehabilitation. pic.twitter.com/yp2Y3z58WT
— Ghana Chronicles (@_GhChronicles) May 29, 2025
