A senior figure in Ghana’s opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has publicly appealed to President John Mahama to exercise his prerogative of mercy and free the party’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, after his 20-year sentence for illegal mining.
Kwabena Nsekyire, a former Ashanti Regional Vice Chairman of the NPP, said the ruling had deeply shaken party supporters but insisted their priority was now to pursue what they see as justice, while also imploring the president to intervene.
“The news has dampened our spirits. But that is not our focus now. We are rather looking at justice prevailing,” he said.
Wontumi was handed a 20-year custodial sentence with hard labour by the Accra High Court over illegal mining operations – known locally as “galamsey” – on the Samreboi concession in Ghana’s Western Region. The court further imposed a fine of 10,000 penalty units, equivalent to GHS120,000, with an additional three-year prison term if he fails to pay.
Call for clemency from Flagstaff House
Mr Nsekyire called on President Mahama to place Wontumi among those eligible for presidential clemency, noting that the president had recently pardoned some inmates.
“It’d be good for President Mahama to pardon him. It will increase his glory, too,” he said, arguing that such a move would enhance Mr Mahama’s legacy.
Mr Nsekyire framed his appeal in moral and religious terms, suggesting that granting a pardon would reinforce the president’s image as a unifying national figure.
He added that such an act would affirm President Mahama’s reputation as a “father for all” and, in his view, reflect the Christian values associated with the president’s membership of the Assemblies of God church.
NPP waits on legal team before next steps
Despite the emotional reaction among supporters, Mr Nsekyire stressed that the party’s leadership would not rush into any formal response until they had received a full briefing from Wontumi’s lawyers.
“After we hear from his lawyers, we’d know what to do, as a party,” he explained.
The NPP has already signalled it will robustly challenge the basis of the conviction, with some party figures claiming the judgment was grounded on assumptions rather than firm evidence. Party activists and key parliamentary voices have been lining up media interviews to question the court’s findings and the broader handling of high-profile illegal mining prosecutions.
Wider debate over illegal mining crackdown
The sentencing of Wontumi, one of the NPP’s most influential regional power-brokers and a prominent businessman, has intensified national debate over Ghana’s campaign against illegal mining, which has devastated water bodies and farmlands.
Civil society voices and some legal experts have welcomed what they see as a strong signal that politically connected individuals can also face severe penalties when found guilty of environmental crimes. Others, including members of the parliamentary Minority, have raised concerns about legal principles applied in related cases, such as the piercing of the corporate veil of Akonta Mining to hold individuals personally liable.
Commentators have also pointed to the role of the Attorney General’s office, with some praising its handling of the Samreboi case while urging that prosecutions must not stop with Wontumi but extend to other alleged “galamsey” financiers and sponsors.
Political and moral test for presidency
Mr Nsekyire’s plea now places President Mahama at the centre of a politically sensitive decision: whether to maintain a firm stance in the fight against illegal mining by allowing the sentence to stand, or to deploy his constitutional power of mercy in a case involving a high-profile opposition figure.
For the NPP, Wontumi’s conviction is both a legal battle and an emotional blow in a key electoral stronghold. For the presidency, any move toward clemency risks being interpreted either as an act of Christian compassion and national reconciliation, or as a weakening of the government’s resolve against environmental crime.
As the party awaits legal advice and the government weighs its options, the fate of Chairman Wontumi has become a focal point in Ghana’s larger struggle to balance the rule of law, environmental protection and political accommodation.
