Aspiring New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Chairman Paul Afoko says incarcerated former Ashanti Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, is saddened that he could not attend his late sister’s one-week celebration.
Afoko said he visited Wontumi at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison on September 29, where the former regional chairman spoke about his inability to be present for the family’s mourning ceremony.
Speaking on Lawson TV on September 30, Afoko said Wontumi’s late sister, Regina Wiafe Antwi, played an important role in caring for him after their mother died.
He said Wontumi was therefore particularly affected by his absence from the one-week observance.
“Yesterday, I interacted with him, and you know his senior sister is dead, and today marks the one-week celebration. So, while he is in Nsawam, he is pained because he could not witness the one-week celebration. But I pray he would be granted access to bid farewell to her at the main funeral,” Afoko said.
Wontumi has been in custody since his conviction in July over offences related to mining activities involving Akonta Mining Company Limited.
An Accra High Court sentenced him to 20 years in prison, with the sentences on two counts running concurrently.
He has appealed the conviction and sentence, with his lawyers filing the appeal at the Court of Appeal on July 28, 2026.
