The sentencing of Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, should serve as a warning that no individual is above the law, Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, has said.
According to him, the judgment should not be viewed through a partisan lens but as a landmark moment in Ghana’s fight against illegal mining.
His remarks come after a court found Chairman Wontumi guilty of engaging in illegal mining, locally known as galamsey, and sentenced him to 20 years’ imprisonment.
Speaking on The Big Issue on Channel One TV on Saturday, July 25, 2026, Amoah said the ruling should send a strong message to politicians across the political divide that illegal mining would attract consequences regardless of political affiliation.
“What this judgment does to the country is to send a clearer signal that no matter who you are, your status or rank, political coloration, whether you are seeking to become a national chairman or a regional chairman, if you go to do illegal mining, which then affects all of us, the law would find you and the law would deal with you,” he said.
Amoah cautioned members of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) against celebrating the conviction, arguing that the ruling should instead serve as a warning to anyone involved in illegal mining.
“Let not the NDC also rejoice. And let not anybody in the NDC today think that, ‘Oh, my party is in power and therefore I will go into the forest and eat with both hands,’ because there might be delayed accountability,” he said.
“If you are in NPP, one of your own has gone in for galamsey. It means that you are not safe. You can also go, be watching your back.”
He said the court’s decision demonstrated that the justice system could hold politically exposed persons accountable, regardless of their influence.
“I think that the Attorney General, and the judicial system on this one have shown mettle. They’ve been able to go to court, they’ve been able to argue their case. The judge has found in their favour,” he said.
Amoah urged political parties to support efforts to eradicate illegal mining rather than politicising prosecutions, stressing that environmental degradation affected all Ghanaians irrespective of political affiliation.
“When Ghana Water Company is pumping water into your homes, it does not request where the NPP homes are and where the NDC homes are. It pumps to everybody,” he said.
“If there are sicknesses that we pick up from the heavy metals that we’ve polluted these rivers with, it comes to all of us.”
He dismissed claims that the prosecution was politically motivated, insisting that the evidence presented in court justified the conviction.
“I do not think that you can fault the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General or the judicial system on this one,” he said.
Amoah added that although justice might sometimes take time, the Wontumi case showed that offenders could eventually be held accountable.
“The wheels of justice will grind slowly. Maybe it’s Wontumi today because this started years ago. Somebody started two or three years ago, it might get to the end in a year or two,” he said.
