The Case Against His Boss Is Unraveling.
By Prince Ahenkorah
The operations manager of a mining company owned by one of Ghana’s most powerful regional politicians has been released on a record-setting GH¢10 million bail (approximately $800,000), even as the criminal case against his employer appears to be fracturing.
Kwadwo Owusu Bempah, the operations manager for Akonta Mining, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of illegal mining, abetting unauthorized tree felling, and facilitating unlawful construction in the protected Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve.
His company is owned by Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, the influential Ashanti Regional Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The bail conditions requiring three sureties, one of whom must provide substantial property justification are among the highest set in recent memory for environmental crimes.
They underscore the high-profile nature of a case that has become a litmus test for Ghana’s stated commitment to combating illegal mining, or galamsey.
The case has been marked by twists. Owusu Bempah’s lawyer, Andrew Vortia, told reporters his client was not on the run, as initially reported, but had voluntarily turned himself in to police weeks earlier. He was granted initial bail but was re-arrested on January 12 for failing to comply with reporting conditions. A co-accused, shareholder Kwame Antwi, remains at large.
More significantly, the prosecution’s strategy seems to be shifting. In a major development last November, the state withdrew charges against Edward Akuoko, Akonta Mining’s General Manager, and announced plans to use him as a key prosecution witness against his own company and its owner, Wontumi.
This move suggests prosecutors are attempting to build a case from the inside, but it also raises questions about the strength of the original evidence and whether lower-level employees might bear the brunt of accountability.
The core allegation, according to court documents, is that Akonta Mining operated far beyond its legal boundaries. While the company holds valid concessions in the Samreboi and Abekoase areas, its application to mine inside the adjacent Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve was explicitly rejected. Despite this, prosecutors allege Chairman Wontumi led an unlawful incursion into the protected reserve, clearing trees and erecting structures.
The case sits at the fraught intersection of political power, environmental degradation, and law enforcement in Ghana. Chairman Wontumi is a formidable political figure whose company has repeatedly been at the center of illegal mining allegations. His arrest in 2023 was hailed by environmental activists as a potential turning point, proving that even the politically connected were not immune.
However, the slow progress of the case and the recent high-value bail for his employee have tempered that optimism. “The unprecedented bail amount acknowledges the seriousness of the crime, but the real measure of justice will be whether the principal actors are fully held to account,” said a representative from the Ghana Environmental
Advocacy Group, who requested anonymity due to fears of political retribution. “Witness testimony is useful, but it can also be a sign a case is built on sand, not rock.”
For now, Kwadwo Owusu Bempah is home under stringent conditions. The state’s star witness is preparing to testify against his former boss. And in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve, the scarred landscape remains a silent testament to the mining that allegedly occurred there, legal or not. The court’s next moves will reveal how much the case has truly cracked.