Bernard Antwi Boasiako, Chairman Wontumi, is behind bars at Nsawam. 20 years. Hard labour. For facilitating galamsey.
The court has finished its work. But some supporters of the New Patriotic Party have started theirs – on Facebook, on TikTok, on radio. And what they are doing will not help Wontumi. It will bury the party deeper.
Listen to the slogans:
“Tomorrow is pregnant.”
“When the table turns, we will show them.”
“When we return, certain people will never get near power again.”
It sounds brave on WhatsApp. In real Ghanaian politics, it sounds childish, bitter, and dangerous. You cannot win power from poor Ghanaians with a heart full of vengeance.
THE GHANAIAN VOTER IS NOT LOOKING FOR AN AVENGER
The man pushing truck in Kejetia, the woman selling koko in Berekum, the young graduate sleeping in a kiosk at Kasoa, the farmer at Samreboi whose river is brown – they are not going to queue in 2028 to vote for revenge.
They are queuing to vote for relief.
When you shout “We will revenge Wontumi!”, the market woman hears, “We are coming back to fight for Wontumi, not for me.”
When you say “We will not allow certain people near government,” the youth hears, “They are coming to share positions among themselves again. I will still be outside holding their flag.”
Ghanaians did not vote massively against NPP in 2024 because they wanted NDC to revenge NPP. They voted because they wanted cost of living reduced, galamsey stopped, and arrogance to end. If your answer to that is more threats and arrogance, you have learned nothing.
DO YOU WANT POWER TO FIX GHANA OR TO PUNISH GHANAIANS?
Every party in opposition must answer this question: Are you looking for power to correct the mess you claim exists, or are you looking for power to create your own mess?
If you think Wontumi’s trial was unfair, show Ghanaians a better justice system. Tell us how under you, all galamsey kingpins – whether in Ashanti, Eastern, Western or Bono – will be prosecuted fairly and quickly. Tell us how you will stop excavators from moving on our roads at night.
But if your manifesto is simply “We will jail them back,” then you are not different from what you are accusing. You are just the other side of the same coin. And Ghanaians will reject you again.
WHY THE REVENGE TALK IS POLITICALLY FOOLISH
Three reasons this revenge talk is destroying NPP’s future:
1. A Wise Warrior Never Shows His Battle Plan: In war, even in chieftaincy disputes, you never tell your enemy what you will do to him tomorrow. You keep it in your chest. You prepare quietly.
When you announce on radio that “We will deal with them when we come,” you give your opponents two years to prepare, to gather evidence, to secure their base, and to tell Ghanaians: “Look, they have not repented, they are coming to revenge.”
If you have any plan, even if it is bad, keep it in your head. No strategic person announces his revenge before the battle is even near.
2. It Makes Wontumi’s Legal Case Harder: Wontumi’s lawyers want to go to the Court of Appeal. They want to argue law – that the 15-year minimum is harsh for a first offender, that the reclamation evidence was not properly considered. That is a legal argument.
When party supporters threaten judges, threaten NDC members, and call the judiciary biased, they politicize the case. No judge wants to be seen as bowing to political threats to release Wontumi. You are making his appeal difficult.
3. It Confirms Why You Lost: The perception that killed NPP in 2024 was “arrogance of power, we have the men, we will show you.” When after losing, you still speak the same language of “we will show you,” you prove to floating voters that you have not changed. People don’t vote for people who threaten them.
WHAT SENSIBLE NPP VOICES ARE SAYING
Not everyone in NPP is chanting revenge. The elders and strategic minds are saying something else, and the party should listen to them:
“Respect the court. Disagree, but respect. File appeal. Support Wontumi’s family. But let us use this as a turning point to show we are serious about galamsey. Let us say no party member will be allowed to do galamsey under our next government.”
“We must demand equal justice, not no justice. If Wontumi is jailed 20 years, then all galamsey kingpins in Ellembelle, in Anyinam, in Manso, in Bono, must face the same law. That is the message that wins Ghanaians, not revenge.”
That is how you win sympathy. That is how you win power.
Wontumi’s 20-year sentence is painful for his supporters. That pain is understandable. But pain must not become poison.
You cannot win the sympathy of the poor masses with a vindictive heart. You win them with a humble heart that says we have learned, we have changed, and we will fix Ghana.
“Tomorrow is pregnant” is true. But if you keep kicking the stomach of Ghanaians with revenge threats, tomorrow will give birth to another painful defeat.
Replace the revenge chant with a reform chant. That is the only way out of Nsawam, politically.
Alexander Afriyie, supervising editor, ghanacrimereport.com and ghanatalk.com