The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly called Chairman Wontumi, is healthy and has settled in at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison, his campaign manager, George Boahen Oduro, has said.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on July 21, which was monitored by Ghanaian Radar, Mr. Oduro said he and four others went to see Wontumi at the facility after he was admitted on Monday evening to start serving his jail term.
He noted that while prison officials were still wrapping up the required intake and documentation, Wontumi was coping well. “We visited him this morning and he has officially begun his sentence. He was admitted yesterday around 4 p.m. and he’s currently at Nsawam,” Mr. Oduro stated.
He commended staff members of the Ghana Prisons Service for their conduct during the visit, describing them as professional and courteous as they carried out standard procedures for new inmates.
Mr. Oduro explained that the team was first denied entry because Wontumi was going through routine processing, including records and admission checks. He added that after informing officers they had brought personal items for him, Wontumi’s younger brother was permitted to enter and hand them over. The brother later reported back that the NPP executive was fine.
“He said he is very well. He’s okay and everything is fine,” he said. Mr. Oduro clarified that the temporary restriction was part of the admission process and not a refusal of visitation rights.
He further stated that prison authorities directed the group to come back on Wednesday, when Wontumi would be open to regular visits after completing profiling. Chairman Wontumi was sentenced on Monday by an Accra High Court to 20 years in prison in the Akonta Mining illegal mining case. He was also slapped with a fine of 10,000 penalty units on each count.
Akonta Mining Limited, convicted on two counts, received a fine of 15,000 penalty units per offence. Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay found Wontumi guilty on Counts One and Four, and Akonta Mining Limited guilty on Counts Three and Six, after determining that the prosecution had established all elements of the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
