When Bernard Antwi Boasiako, Chairman Wontumi, walked into the High Court in Accra on Monday morning, he walked in as a chairman. When he walked out, he walked out as a convict.
From the air-conditioned office of the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP to the walls of Nsawam Medium Security Prison. From commanding thousands of delegates to taking orders from prison wardens.
The court presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay sentenced him to 20 years with hard labour for assigning mineral rights without ministerial approval and facilitating illegal mining at Samreboi, while his company Akonta Mining was fined GH¢120,000.
His police escort from CID Headquarters to Nsawam has now been completed. He has begun his sentence.
This is not just news about one man. It is a lesson for every Ghanaian who holds small power or big power.
LESSON ONE: DON’T USE POWER TO INTIMIDATE AND BULLY PEOPLE
In Ghana, we all saw it. Chairman Wontumi built a reputation on boldness that often crossed into intimidation. On radio and on television, he could insult, he could threaten, he could boast that no one could touch him.
Many who disagreed with him in his own party kept quiet because they feared him. Many journalists lowered their voices when his name was mentioned. Many small people who had issues with Akonta Mining at Samreboi could not speak because they were told the owner is too powerful.
Power used to bully makes you feel big for a moment, but it creates silent enemies everywhere. On the day the handcuffs come, those you bullied will not be there to defend you.
If you are a regional chairman, a DCE, a police commander, a manager, a headmaster, a market queen, a landlord — the way you treat people when you have power is the way people will remember you when power leaves you.
LESSON TWO: DON’T USE POWER TO ABUSE THE LAW
The particulars of Wontumi’s case are simple and instructive. The law under Section 14(1) of Act 703 as amended by Act 995 says you cannot assign your mining concession to another person without the prior written approval of the Minister.
Wontumi, according to the court, allowed Henry Okum and Michael Gyedu Ayisi to mine inside Akonta Mining’s concession without that approval. His defence was that he gave it for reclamation.
Justice Kocuvie-Tay called that explanation an afterthought.
The lesson is clear. Power does not make you above the law, it puts you under more scrutiny. When you have a licence, you must obey the terms of the licence. When you have a concession, you cannot sublet it like a bedroom in Accra.
Many powerful people in Ghana today do the same. They have one permit but they operate in three places. They have approval for prospecting but they are doing full mining. They think because they know a minister, because they know a general, the law will not catch them.
Wontumi thought the same. The law has caught him.
LESSON THREE: DON’T USE POWER TO STEAL OR CORRUPT
Galamsey is not just environmental destruction. It is stealing.
It is stealing the forest that belongs to all Ghanaians. It is stealing clean water from communities. It is stealing the future of children who will drink poisoned water.
When you facilitate illegal mining, you corrupt the system. You pay off the monitor. You silence the forestry officer. You compromise the chief. You make the whole system rot.
Chairman Wontumi is not in jail because someone hates him. He is in jail because the court found that he facilitated an act that steals from Ghana.
Every cedi made from illegal mining is a cedi stolen from the Ghana Petroleum Funds, from the Heritage Fund that should save for our children, from the Stabilisation Fund that should save us in hard times.
If you use your power to steal, whether through galamsey, through inflated contracts, through ghost names, through land guardism — know that stolen money cannot protect you forever.
THE FINAL LESSON: POWER HAS AN EXPIRING DATE
This is the biggest lesson.
In 2023, Chairman Wontumi could fill a stadium in Kumasi. In 2024, he could call a press conference and the whole nation would listen. In 2022, his word could make or break a parliamentary candidate in Ashanti.
In 2026, he is Prisoner No. at Nsawam, wearing prison uniform, eating prison food, sleeping on a prison bed.
Power has an expiring date. Just like yoghurt. Just like milk.
Your position as chairman will expire. Your position as minister will expire. Your position as CEO will expire. Your position as president will expire. Your position as Inspector General will expire. Even your life will expire.
What will not expire is how you used that power.
The people of Samreboi will not remember how many cars Wontumi had. They will remember whether their river Tano was clean or dirty.
Ghana is watching those who are in power today and doing the same galamsey, the same intimidation, the same abuse of law. They are driving V8s, they are boasting on radio, they say no one can touch them.
Chairman Wontumi also said no one could touch him.
Today, the CID has touched him, the court has touched him, and Nsawam has received him.
Let his 20 years be a classroom for all of us.
Alexander Afriyie, supervising editor, ghanacrimereport.com and ghanatalk.com