Accountability for the Powerful: Chairman Wontumi Faces GH¢25M Bail
The legal system seriously tested accountability for the powerful this week in Accra. Bernard Antwi Boasiako, widely known as Chairman Wontumi, appeared before the Accra High Court yesterday, October 7, 2025. The court immediately placed him on an international travel ban. Furthermore, it seized his passport. The court granted him GH¢15 million bail in a six-count case involving serious mining-related offences. Later that same day, he faced another seven-count charge. He allegedly operated illegally within the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve. Consequently, the court granted him an additional GH¢10 million bail. He could not meet the combined GH¢25 million. Therefore, Wontumi spent the night in police custody.
His company, Akonta Mining Limited, faces accusations of grave impunity. Specifically, prosecutors accuse the firm of assigning mineral rights without approval. They also cite facilitating unlicensed mining and operating within a protected forest reserve. Wontumi has pleaded not guilty to all charges. This case carries an enormous symbolic weight. The public sees it as a major test. It challenges whether Ghana’s justice system applies the law firmly to the powerful.
Wontumi previously embodied political defiance. He once openly claimed that the only difference between legal and illegal mining was merely a document. He also once boasted that National Security officials had to “negotiate” with him when the former president visited the Ashanti Region. In 2013, he made the bold, failed prediction that the former president “shall never be President again,” calling him a “thing of the past.” Now, however, Wontumi must face the very law he once trivialized.
Meanwhile, another significant scandal raises similar questions of accountability for the powerful. The National Lottery Authority’s (NLA) Good Causes Fund under Sammy Awuku attracts sharp public criticism. The Fund’s purpose was clear: to support the aged, the needy, and the vulnerable in the community. However, reports reveal millions meant for welfare were improperly spent on publicity and marketing. A GH¢2 million AstroTurf project, once praised as a “transformative initiative,” now lies abandoned. This project symbolizes hypocrisy, not progress.
Critics argue that Awuku’s actions drain public compassion and national empathy. Awuku defends the misuse, claiming 95 percent of the funds supported “transformative projects.” Nevertheless, the law did not authorize marketing expenses. It specifically authorized compassion. The original source argues that leaders use the poor’s pain to polish their own image. This action constitutes a double theft: from people’s pockets and from their dignity.
The two stories mirror the same fundamental disease. Wontumi’s alleged actions destroyed rivers and poisoned the land. Awuku’s alleged misuse of social funds drained public trust. Both exploited public faith in different ways. The poor ultimately paid the price in both cases. The Accra High Court now ensures accountability for the powerful in the mining sector. Consequently, the original source urges Parliament to investigate the NLA fund. The nation must trace every misappropriated cedi. Ghana must learn that no office can house irony without severe consequence.
Source: Kay Codjoe (Facebook)
