I have come to realize that in this country people no longer defend what is right or wrong. We have lost that moral compass. Today, our arguments are not built around principles or truth but merely around political alignment and partisan convenience. If someone is in your political camp, even if he is wrong, you will defend him. If he is on the other side, even if he is right, you will destroy him.
You may not like Chairman Wontumi as a person, and that is your entitlement. Nobody is forcing anyone to admire his personality or methods. But what we cannot run away from is the fact that the previous Mahama government from 2013 to 2016 persecuted him, destroyed his business empire, and nearly ruined his life. What makes it even more tragic is that the same pattern of vindictive politics that started under Mahama’s first term has resurfaced today in his second coming.
Also, persecution is not prosecution. You can hold people accountable for wrongdoing, but you cannot disguise political hatred as justice. You can investigate crime, but you cannot criminalize entrepreneurship because of political differences. And this is what I find deeply disturbing in Chairman Wontumi’s story, the consistent pattern of targeting, harassment, and economic destruction that began over a decade ago.
Public perception has never been fair to Chairman Wontumi. Yes, he has his flaws, his loud personality, and his excesses, but who among us in politics does not? No one is holding brief for him on his human weaknesses. However, to continuously collapse his businesses not because he broke the law but because of who he is politically is a dangerous precedent. We are normalizing a slippery slope where politically exposed people can no longer own businesses because the moment your government leaves power, you risk losing everything. That is not justice; that is vengeance disguised as law.
First, let us recall the early days of Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi. He started his entrepreneurial journey in his early 30s, and around 2007, he founded a licensed large-scale mining company known as Hansol Mining Company Limited. His company operated legally under Ghana’s Minerals and Mining Act with proper documentation, environmental permits, and community development plans. By 2010, through hard work and expansion, he added another licensed large-scale mining company called Akonta Mining Limited. At that time, his political affiliation was no secret, as he was the Bosomtwe Constituency Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Between 2010 and 2012, Hansol Mining became one of the shining examples of indigenous Ghanaian entrepreneurship in the mining sector. The company employed over 1,000 workers, both Ghanaians and expatriates, and invested heavily in equipment and community development. What many do not know is that Hansol Mining Limited was, at one point, the major supplier of refined gold to the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), contributing almost 50 percent of PMMC’s total export transactions between 2011 and 2013. The records are there at PMMC for anyone who doubts it. Hansol was among the few Ghanaian companies competing in a space dominated by multinationals like Newmont and AngloGold Ashanti. Yet, despite all this success, his business became a target not because it was illegal, but because its owner was openly NPP.
Moreover, from 2008 onwards, Hansol Mining faced repeated harassment from National Security operatives. What was supposed to be a business matter under the Minerals Commission was turned into a political witch-hunt. Under the leadership of then-National Security Coordinator Col. Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, a campaign was launched against Chairman Wontumi and his companies. The justification was that his sites had Chinese workers and were therefore engaging in galamsey or illegal mining. Yet, the same Chinese nationals were working on concessions owned by AngloGold and Newmont with no harassment. Why was only Hansol singled out? Why were other large-scale mining companies spared? The answer is simple, politics.
Indeed, Col. Gbevlo-Lartey & his men was not fighting Galamsey; he was fighting political enemies. The entire operation was politically motivated, targeting one man because he was seen as too influential, too young, too wealthy, and too NPP.
Sometime in early 2014, Chairman Wontumi was invited to meet then-President John Dramani Mahama in Tamale. According to Wontumi himself, when he arrived, he saw the President, his brother Alfred Mahama, and Col. Gbevlo-Lartey seated. Spread in front of them were all the documents belonging to Hansol Mining, licenses, operational papers, bank details, everything. President Mahama told him directly that his company was being accused of illegal mining and must stop operations immediately. Wontumi then explained to the President that his company was a fully licensed large-scale operator, not a galamsey business. But his words fell on deaf ears; the decision had already been made.
Now let’s pause and ask ourselves, how can a company that was the biggest contributor to PMMC’s gold exports, employing over 1,000 people, be accused of illegal mining? If the State had genuine concerns, there were lawful ways to address them. The Minerals Commission could have investigated, suspended, or fined the company. But instead, they unleashed soldiers and security operatives to destroy everything he had built.
Under the orders of Col. Gbevlo-Lartey, National Security operatives backed by the military stormed Hansol Mining’s concessions in the Western Region in June 2013. What followed was sheer lawlessness, a state-sponsored looting spree. They carted away 9 kilograms of gold worth over 500,000 dollars, seized 200,000 dollars in cash, and vandalized company properties worth millions of cedis. Over 300 excavators and several trucks were either burned or confiscated. Shockingly, some of the seized machines later ended up in the hands of NDC loyalists who used them for the very same galamsey operations Hansol was accused of. It was a coordinated attack, an economic assassination disguised as national security enforcement.
However, Chairman Wontumi did not take the abuse lying down. He went to court, the Sekondi High Court, seeking an injunction against further harassment. The presiding judge, Justice Akrowuah, in a strongly worded ruling, described the actions of the State as lawless and without merit, confirming that Hansol Mining held all the legitimate licenses required to operate. That ruling should have ended the matter. But by then, the damage was already done. His mining equipment was gone, his workers were scattered, and his company was crippled beyond recovery.
In 2014, Wontumi was elected Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP. That made him a political heavyweight and a direct thorn in the side of the NDC. His boldness, charisma, and outspoken nature made him both admired and feared. He became one of the loudest defenders of the NPP and a relentless critic of the Mahama administration. Then hypocritical, people will be saying he should apologize to the president, when the president collapsed his multi-million dollar company did he apologize to him?
Today, under Mahama’s return to power, the same pattern is playing out again. History is repeating itself almost word for word. After EOCO kept him in custody for about a week without formal charges, they went on to seize about fifteen of his luxury vehicles. His Akonta Mining Limited, which has had a valid large-scale mining license since 2010, has now had that license revoked under the same old excuse, illegal mining. Three radio stations under Wontumi Multimedia have been clamped down by the NCA under the supervision of Minister Sammy George for questionable reasons. The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has frozen his bank accounts. His other company, Hallmark Civil Engineering Ltd, has also been shut down. And now, the Attorney-General has announced that he will be filing charges against Chairman Wontumi and Akonta Mining. We are all watching.
This is not about liking or disliking Wontumi. This is about justice, fairness, and the future of entrepreneurship in Ghana. When politics becomes a tool of persecution, no businessman is safe. When economic success becomes a crime simply because of your political color, we are heading toward a dangerous place as a country.
No one is above the law. If Wontumi has done wrong, let the law take its course transparently, fairly, and without bias. But destroying his businesses, freezing his accounts, and harassing his employees before any court ruling is not justice, it is revenge.
As we keep records of these events today, one day history will refer back to them. And when you are judging him in your public court, at least judge him based on the issues and the facts, not on your emotions or political side. Because if we normalize this culture of political vendetta, then tomorrow the same tools of persecution will be used against others, maybe even those who cheer it today.
By; Akaneweo Kabiru Abdul.
