as Wontumi’s ‘Gala’ Trial Heats Up –The courtroom is set.
The charges are flying. But one key man is conspicuously absent. Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, the immediate past Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and a lawyer of many years, has run for the hills or at least into a deafening silence as his former party colleague, Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako (alias Chairman Wontumi), stands trial for illegal mining. Questions are now popping up like mushrooms across the political landscape:
Why has Jinapor ditched Wontumi in his hour of legal peril?The case, which has gripped the nation, centres on accusations that Wontumi and his company, Akonta Mining, illegally stormed the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve in the Western Region to mine without authorisation. But here is the juicy twist: It was Jinapor himself who lit the fire.
Back in 2022, after media reports exposed Akonta Mining’s activities in the forest, Jinapor issued a powerful ministerial statement declaring that the company had “no mineral right” to operate inside the reserve. He said their application had not been determined. He called their activity “illegal.
”That statement triggered civil society groups – including Martin Kpebu and Ken Ashigbe to petition the police and the then-IGP, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, to investigate. For months, the petition gathered dust.
Then power changed hands. And last year, the case was revived. Wontumi is now in the dock. The former minister, now MP for Damango, has gone “deaf and dumb,” sources tell The New Republic. He has refused to serve as either a defence witness or a prosecution witness.
He is minding his business as if he has no case to answer yet his own signature is all over the document that started it all.In Jinapor’s place, his former deputy, George Mireku Duker (ex-MP for Tarkwa-Nsueam), has stepped forward to defend Wontumi. Duker, who was in charge of mining, now finds himself disagreeing with his old boss. But here is the problem: Duker was not in charge of forests.
That job belonged to Benito Owusu Bio, who was removed after the first term of the previous administration. So the man who knows the forest rules best is gone.Insiders whisper that Jinapor’s absence may not be accidental. They point to a dramatic incident in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, during Jinapor’s tenure as minister.
According to media practitioners in Kumasi at the time who still tread carefully on the matter Wontumi allegedly nearly slapped the young minister over the very same letter.
Wontumi, who is now eyeing the NPP’s national chairman position, reportedly questioned Jinapor’s audacity: “When did you enter this party? What power do you have to question my mining activities? ”Some now believe that humiliation or fear of worse has kept Jinapor far from the courtroom.
As if the drama were not thick enough, last week brought fresh embarrassment for the defence. Wisdom Edom Gomashie, a former special aide to Duker, appeared as the defence’s first witness. He told the court he was 33 years old. But somewhere in his own documents, he claimed to have over 25 years of professional experience as a mining engineer. Do the math. That would mean he started his career at age 8.Deputy Attorney General Dr Justice Srem-Sai shredded the testimony in open court.
The judge has already ruled that there is a case to answer, throwing out defence arguments that there was no evidence.From this news portal’s monitoring of proceedings, the noose is tightening.
The defence is on shaky ground. And Jinapor’s silence is becoming louder by the day. The question on everyone’s lips: Will the former minister who blew the whistle now be forced to step into the witness box? Or will he continue to run from Wontumi’s ‘gala’ trial – leaving his former deputy and an embattled aide to carry the weight of a case he himself set in motion?Only time will tell. But the clock is ticking.