Bernard Antwi Boasiako aka Chairman Wontumi
Jailed businessman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, is not among the 863 prisoners pardoned by President John Mahama on Monday, October 5, 2026, his spokesperson, Dr. Palgrave Boakye Danquah, has confirmed.
Chairman Wontumi is serving a 20-year jail term for mining related offences after the court found him guilty of permitting others to mine on his company’s concession at Samreboi in the Western Region.
According to him, Chairman Wontumi’s team has not received any formal communication from the Presidency confirming that the former Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is among those covered by the President’s decision.
Dr. Danquah maintained that the team will not draw any conclusions at this point until the full list of those pardoned by the President is released.
“We don’t have the fine details yet, and so if we are yet to be communicated to, we will let the public know. Our prayer and consideration will be that if we would have our name anywhere at all, it would be within the special recommendation or petition category,” he stressed.
He stated that the immediate priority is securing bail for Chairman Wontumi when his lawyer moves an application on October 15 pending appeal.
He hoped that both the appeal and bail application would succeed, stressing, “We are just praying that the appeal goes through and also we are praying that the bail pending the appeal goes through.”
President John Dramani Mahama has granted a presidential pardon to 863 prison inmates in commemoration of Ghana’s 70th Independence Anniversary, through the prerogative of mercy vested in him by the 1992 Constitution.
This was in accordance with Article 72(1) of the 1992 Constitution, after consultation with the Council of State.
Out of the total 863, 819 are first offenders who have been granted outright release; 13 convicted persons aged 70 years and above have been granted outright release, while six seriously ill persons have also been released.
Again, eleven death sentences are to be commuted to life imprisonment, while six life sentences are to be commuted to 20 years definite sentence.
Three beneficiaries have also been pardoned following petitions, while three fall under a category described as “others.”
The relevant state institutions have been directed to take the necessary steps to give effect to the President’s decision.
Pending Appeal
Lawyers for Chairman Wontumi filed an application for bail pending the hearing of his appeal against his conviction and 20-year prison sentence for permitting others to mine on his company’s concession without ministerial approval.
The application argues that the trial was fundamentally flawed in law and that the appeal raises substantial, serious and arguable questions of law and fact with overwhelming prospects of success.
“The conviction proceeded upon grave errors of law which substantially affected the outcome of the trial, and the appeal discloses several exceptional circumstances warranting the exercise of this Honourable Court’s discretion in favour of the Applicant,” a portion of the application stated.
It further argues that the appeal challenges the trial judge’s attribution of criminal liability to Chairman Wontumi despite the separate legal personality of his company, Akonta Mining Company Limited, contrary to established principles of company law and criminal responsibility.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak