Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, has asserted that the evidence that led to the conviction of New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ashanti Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, was assembled under the previous NPP administration.

Speaking on Joy Prime on Wednesday, July 22, Mr Gbande dismissed suggestions that Wontumi's imprisonment was politically motivated, insisting that it was the culmination of investigations and legal processes initiated by officials of the former Akufo-Addo administration.

"The docket that jailed Wontumi, the evidence that jailed him, was built by the NPP. Trust me, the docket that jailed Wontumi, the evidence that jailed him was built by the NPP," he said.

According to Mr Gbande, the case originated in July 2022, when the then Minister for Lands and Natural Resources declared Wontumi's mining activities illegal.

"It started when the ministers took action against Wontumi. In July 2022, the Minister for Lands declared Wontumi's activities illegal. So if something is illegal, it's illegal. If it's against the law, it's against the law. For everything that breaches the law, there have to be consequences."

He argued that the case demonstrates that no one, irrespective of political affiliation, is above the law.

Mr Gbande said he did not take pleasure in Wontumi's incarceration but was encouraged that Ghana's justice system had been allowed to function without political interference.

"I think that, for us as Christians, you don't celebrate anybody's agony or misfortune. However, we ourselves as a country have submitted our authority to laws. We are all governed by laws, and when the laws are seemingly working, we must embrace it, and we must be happy that justice is in there."

He added that while he was not happy about Wontumi's imprisonment, he was pleased that the law had been allowed to take its course.

Mr Gbande stressed that political parties should never become sanctuaries for individuals who break the law.

"Political parties should not be used as a hub to harness lawlessness and insubordinate our laws. Political parties should be a vehicle of prosperity, a platform for nation-building and growth."

Rejecting assertions that Wontumi's conviction amounted to political persecution, Mr Gbande insisted that the NPP chairman was serving a sentence because of his actions rather than his political affiliation.

"I believe that Wontumi is never a political prisoner. He's just a prisoner as much as a person who has stolen a goat or the people who are in jail. It can happen to any of us. That is why we must work being careful."

He also alleged that some senior figures within the NPP were privately more pleased about Wontumi's imprisonment than the opposition NDC.

"They (NPP) are more excited for Wontumi's jail than the NDC," he said.

Mr Gbande claimed the party's leadership had opposed Wontumi's reported ambition to contest for the position of National Chairman.

"The General Secretary of the NPP is one of the people who are happy. The National Chairman of the NPP, they are all happy that Wontumi is no more. They didn't want him to become National Chairman. It was going to be a nuisance for the party."

Mr Gbande, however, dismissed the NPP's public show of support for Wontumi, insisting that senior figures within the party were only pretending to stand by him.

"They are pretending; the NPP is behaving as people who attend funerals," he stated.

Mr Gbande further argued that Wontumi could have reduced public criticism by acknowledging responsibility for his mining activities and undertaking land reclamation.

"If Wontumi had gone back to Samreboi, as a concession owner under the NPP, to declare reclamation and possibly tell the whole country, 'Listen, I take responsibility for the activities,' that would have demonstrated remorse."

He noted that although the Akufo-Addo administration had introduced legislation permitting mining in forest reserves, concession holders remained bound by the law.

"The president passed a law that allowed people to go and mine in the forest reserves. It wasn't his fault that he had to mine in the forest because the presidency of President Akufo-Addo put in place a law that allowed people to mine in the forest reserves. He happened to be one person who was given a concession to mine there. But he mined without complying with the laws."

Mr Gbande said Wontumi's continued insistence that he had done nothing wrong undermined any sympathy he might have received.

"The nation had expressed its distaste about what you had done. You should have tried to do right by others. But the man says he hasn't done anything wrong."

He further alleged that Wontumi intimidated even government officials who attempted to challenge his conduct.

"He was threatening even his own appointees, even in government, when they were pointing to him that things were wrong. Do we come to political parties to behave like that?"

Mr Gbande concluded by alleging that Wontumi's political ambitions had created significant opposition within his own party and that he underestimated the intensity of internal party competition.

"Strategically, Wontumi should not even have dared contesting. Once you put yourself out for a contest, you will have competitors. And when the competition becomes key, people go as far as trying to eliminate you."

He maintained that those celebrating Wontumi's conviction were not members of the NDC but individuals within the NPP itself.

"The people who are more interested, who are jubilating in their hearts, for whom Wontumi is guilty, is the NPP."