An Accra High Court has given NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, widely known as Chairman Wontumi, until May 5, 2026, to file his witness statements in an ongoing illegal mining trial, after rejecting yet another attempt by his legal team to suspend proceedings. The directive, issued on Monday, April 20, 2026, represents what the court has signalled is a final opportunity for the accused to comply with repeated orders to open his defence.
The latest directive comes after the accused failed to meet an April 14, 2026 deadline previously set for the submission of witness statements. This follows an earlier instruction requiring him to file by March 16, 2026, which also went unfulfilled. At the close of the prosecution’s case, the court had formally ordered the accused to open his defence, outlining several procedural options available to him, including testifying in person, calling witnesses, or making an unsworn statement.
However, instead of proceeding with his defence, Boasiako’s legal team filed an appeal challenging the prosecution’s submission and a ruling on no case to answer at the Court of Appeal. They also sought a stay of proceedings at the trial court pending the outcome of that appeal. That application was rejected.
When the matter was called on Monday, April 20, 2026, at the High Court for a case management conference, counsel for the accused informed the court that a fresh application for stay of proceedings had been filed at the Court of Appeal. On that basis, they requested an adjournment to await the appellate court’s ruling. The request was strongly opposed by Deputy Attorney General Justice Srem-Sai, who characterised the repeated applications as a deliberate attempt to delay proceedings. He argued that such filings do not constitute automatic grounds for suspension of a trial and urged the court to proceed, stating that the accused had failed to properly advance his defence within the stipulated timelines.
Presiding judge Audrey Kocuvie-Tay declined the request for adjournment, maintaining the court’s commitment to procedural efficiency. She issued a firm directive requiring Boasiako to file his witness statements by May 5, 2026, ahead of a scheduled case management conference set for May 7. The judge further indicated that proceedings would continue in parallel while the court awaits the outcome of the pending appeal at the Court of Appeal, effectively ensuring that the trial remains active despite ongoing interlocutory applications.
The case has been building toward this juncture over several months. Wontumi and his firm Akonta Mining Company Limited face six counts of permitting Henry Okum and Michael Gyedu Ayisi to conduct mining operations at Samreboi in the Western Region without securing prior ministerial approval, in violation of the Minerals and Mining Amendment Act, 2019. A third accused, Kwame Antwi, a director of Akonta Mining who faces two counts of assignment of mineral rights without approval and facilitating unlicensed mining, remains at large.
The prosecution led by Deputy Attorney-General Justice Srem-Sai called witnesses and tendered documentary evidence, including mineral rights documents and proof of the absence of statutory authorisation. After the state closed its case, the defence filed a no-case submission in February 2026, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to require a response.
Lead counsel Andy Appiah-Kubi argued that his client’s decision to permit the two individuals to mine on the concession did not amount to an assignment of mineral rights. He maintained that the prosecution’s failure to adduce evidence of an assignment was not a minor or technical lapse but a fundamental failure to prove an essential element of the alleged offences. On the charge of facilitating unlicensed mining, counsel submitted that the mere occurrence of unlicensed mining activities on a concession held by his clients did not establish that they purposely facilitated such operations.
Justice Audrey Kokuvie-Tay ruled on March 16, 2026, that the prosecution had successfully established a prima facie case against Boasiako, his company Akonta Mining, and Kwame Antwi, currently at large. The court held that as Boasiako had admitted to allowing access to the concession and evidence showed he did not merely allow statutory breaches to occur, the accused persons must now respond to the allegations brought against them.
On April 2, 2026, the court also dismissed an application for a stay of proceedings filed by the defence. Counsel for Wontumi had argued it would be prejudicial to require the accused to open his defence while an appeal challenging the order to do so remains pending, contending that no irreparable harm would be suffered by the state from a temporary stay. The Deputy Attorney General described the application as one brought in bad faith to abuse court processes and unnecessarily delay the trial. The presiding judge, after reviewing the affidavit in support and hearing arguments from both sides, held that the application was without merit and accordingly dismissed it.
The prosecution’s position is that the legal threshold for a stay of proceedings has not been met. The Deputy Attorney-General argued that transfer does not cease to be transfer simply because it was not in writing, and that when a right holder grants the right to exploit a mineral to another person, a transfer has occurred regardless of whether it was formally done.
The court’s decision places the accused under renewed legal pressure as the case advances toward its next phase, with the court signalling limited tolerance for further procedural delays. Wontumi, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges and remains on bail, now faces a hard deadline that the court has indicated will not be extended further, with proceedings set to resume on May 7 regardless of the outcome of any pending appellate applications.
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