Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a private legal practitioner and social activist, has queried when the NPP’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, commonly known as Chairman Wontumi, will be charged.
Vormawor in a post on X wrote, “ So when is Wontumi getting charged? Or the arrest was for Shege reasons?”.
Wontumi’s Akonta Mining Limited has been accused of undertaking mining operations without a licence, polluting water bodies, and entering a forest reserve without authorisation.
The Lands Minister, in a press conference some months ago, stated that interviews conducted with a few residents indicate that the modus operandi of Akonta Mining is to use force to enter and destroy even the farmlands and produce of poor farmers in the area.
He stated, “Armed with this intel, on the eve of Good Friday (17th April 2025), an intelligence-led operation by the Ghana Police Service and the Forestry Commission led to the raid of six illegal mining sites linked to Akonta Mining”.
“ Armed with this intel, on the eve of Good Friday (17th April 2025), an intelligence-led operation by the Ghana Police Service and the Forestry Commission led to the raid of six illegal mining sites linked to Akonta Mining”.
In addition, Ghana Coalition against Galamsey is mounting pressure on the Mahama government to urgently prosecute Chairman Wontumi’s Akonta Mining Ltd and guilty government officials over illegal mining in forest reserves and rivers.
According to the Coalition against Galamsey, they were assured of swift action, yet no arrest has been effected, nor prosecution.
Also, Wontumi was arrested by EOCO following a visit to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters on Tuesday, May 27, shortly after leaving the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters in Accra.
Justice Srem-Sai also revealed that Wontumi is also being investigated for an International organised crime scheme.
The Deputy Attorney General noted that EOCO is assiduously working with our international law enforcement partners on the second strand of criminal investigations.
According to Justice Srem-Sai, the ongoing investigation is being handled by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), with asset recovery efforts already underway to secure suspected proceeds of crime.
Update on Wontumi’s investigation
However, the Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Lydia Yaako Donkor, the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), has revealed that the investigation of NPP’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako’s Akonta Mining Limited, is ongoing.
Speaking at a press conference briefing in Accra on Monday, June 30, DCOP Yaako Donkor stated, “The case is also actively ongoing. Chairman Wontumi has visited a number of times. He is also actually supposed to be coming to us sometime this week, but unfortunately, he was ill — his lawyer submitted a letter to us stating that he was ill. I believe he is now okay because we have communicated to them that he should see us this week, and they have responded”.
“I must mention that he is not the only one we have arrested or are investigating. A number of people are being considered as persons of interest. Last week, for example, we had a party on Agor, who was part of the investigation related to do with Akonta Mining.
“He was arrested here and detained. We have taken a statement from him, and we are continuing with that investigation. I want to assure you that that particular investigation is actively ongoing, and when we are done, we will definitely inform the public of the final action,” she said.
Watch the video below:
So when is Wontumi getting charged?
Or the arrest was for Shege reasons?
— Osagyefo Oliver Barker-Vormawor (@barkervogues) July 20, 2025
