The incarcerated Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has apologised to President John Dramani Mahama and First Lady Lordina Mahama for any disparaging remarks he made about them during the campaign ahead of the 2024 general election.
The apology comes as Wontumi serves a 20-year prison sentence following his conviction for illegal mining activities in the Samreboi Forest.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen, Wontumi’s spokesperson, Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, said the former Ashanti Regional Chairman offered the apology as a gesture of goodwill and appealed to President Mahama to consider granting him clemency.
“The first call is to render an apology, and I think that is important. Former Chairman renders an apology to him if, at some stage, the conversations went overboard, which was never intended,” Boakye-Danquah said.
He, however, stressed that the apology should not be interpreted as an admission that political differences between Wontumi and President Mahama influenced the legal proceedings that resulted in his conviction.
“Not at all. We are aware that in this country there are influences. If you are able to identify those influences and begin making amends, I think we build a better society for all of us to live in,” he stated.
Boakye-Danquah maintained that the appeal for forgiveness was aimed at promoting reconciliation rather than suggesting that political considerations played any role in Wontumi’s prosecution or sentencing.
Chairman Wontumi has been sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment after the Criminal Court 4 Division of the High Court found him guilty on all six charges brought against him.
Chairman Wontumi, Akonta Mining Limited, and a third accused person, Kwame Antwi, were prosecuted over alleged illegal mining activities on the company’s concession at Samreboi in the Western Region.
According to the prosecution, the accused unlawfully assigned mineral rights on the concession without the approval of the sector minister and facilitated mining activities without the required authorisation, contrary to the provisions of the Minerals and Mining Act.
