Afia Schwarzenegger. INSET: Chairman Wontumi
VALENTINA NANA Agyeiwaa, popularly known as Afia Schwarzenegger, has called on political personalities in Ghana to tread cautiously when in power, considering the fact that power is transient.
Speaking on the 20 years’ jail term handed to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, she indicated that during the party’s era, the embattled chairman was all over the place parading himself as an ‘untouchable man’ in the country.
“This judgment awarded to Chairman should be a lesson to all political figures in this country. That if today you have power to make things happen, tomorrow you may not wield power again, so you need to tread cautiously.
“As for me, I don’t in any terms feel sympathy for him, he deserves what he got,” she stated. The misunderstanding between Afia Schwarzenegger and Chairman Wontumi is mainly a defamation + contempt of court case that started around 2022 and went back and forth in court.
Afia Schwarzenegger went on UTV’s United Showbiz hosted by Nana Ama McBrown and publicly claimed she had been in an amorous relationship with Chairman Wontumi. She made further graphic allegations about him on the show. Co-panelists Kwame A Plus and Mr Logic also commented on the allegation, while Fadda Dickson was the executive producer. Wontumi, through his lawyer Maurice Ampaw, sued Afia, UTV, Nana Ama McBrown, A Plus, Mr Logic and Fadda Dickson for discussing the merits of a case that was already in court. He argued that their comments had the potential to affect a fair trial.
The Tema High Court convicted them for contempt. Afia was sentenced to 10 days in prison and also ordered to pay GH¢60,000 to Wontumi for defamatory comments. She was absent from court, so a bench warrant was issued. The others were each fined GH¢60,000 or two months jail in default. Afia later appeared in court on December 20, 2022 with her lawyer and pleaded for mercy. On January 31, 2023, the court substituted the jail term with GH¢60,000 fine / 5000 penalty units, plus a 36-month bond of good behaviour and an order not to comment on the case on any platform.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke