New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Chairman hopeful Paul Afoko has described the 20-year prison sentence imposed on the party’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi), as excessive.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Face to Face on Tuesday, July 21, Afoko said he was deeply saddened when he first heard of the sentence.
“My heart went out to him because I know what prison is like in Ghana… I thought, ‘Gosh, this is too much, 20 years,’” he said.
Afoko said he had not closely followed the case but had been informed that amendments introduced under the previous NPP administration increased the sentencing range for the offence.
According to him, he was told the offence previously attracted a maximum sentence of about two to five years, but changes to the law set a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 25 years.
“Even the minimum of 15 would also have been too much,” he stated.
On the NPP’s position that Chairman Wontumi should be regarded as a political prisoner, Afoko said he would withhold comment until he had consulted the party’s legal team.
He noted that he would first seek guidance from the NPP’s legal committee and General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, before expressing a firm opinion on the matter.
His remarks come after the High Court sentenced Chairman Wontumi to 20 years’ imprisonment on each of two counts, with the sentences to run concurrently, in the Akonta Mining illegal mining case. The court also imposed fines of 10,000 penalty units on each count.
Akonta Mining Limited, which was also convicted on two counts, was fined 15,000 penalty units on each count.
Presiding judge Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay held that the prosecution had proved all the essential elements of the offences beyond reasonable doubt, leading to the convictions of both Wontumi and Akonta Mining Limited.
