The New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Chairman aspirant Paul Afoko has described the 20-year prison sentence handed to the party’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, as excessive.

Speaking in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Channel One TV’s Face to Face on Tuesday, July 21, Mr Afoko said he was saddened when he first heard of the sentence.

“When I first heard it, I was on my way from Kumasi coming to Accra, and my heart went out to him because I know what prison is like in Ghana. It’s not like Sweden where you have the whole suite to yourself and your private toilet and TV and all that. I know how it is. My heart went out to him, and I thought, ‘Gosh, this is too much, 20 years,'” he said.

Mr Afoko said he had not closely followed the case but had been informed that amendments made to the law by the previous NPP administration increased the sentencing range for the offence.

“I never really followed the case. As I started to ask questions, I was actually told that before the change in the law by the NPP government, the maximum sentence would have been somewhere around two to five years. We had changed it to a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 25 years, and so apparently the judge came in between and gave 20. I said to myself, even the minimum of 15 would also have been too much,” he stated.

On the NPP’s claim that Chairman Wontumi should be regarded as a  political prisoner, Mr Afoko said he would refrain from commenting until he had consulted the party’s legal experts.

“I heard my party subsequently saying that Wontumi should be seen as a political prisoner. I am yet to talk to the party. The one who announced it, the General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, is a lawyer, and we’ve got a lot of fine legal brains in the party,” he said.

He added, “If they feel or think that, based on what they have before them, Wontumi should be considered a political prisoner, I cannot contradict them without first learning more. I would need to be enlightened. So I would rather not make any further comments until I have had the opportunity to speak to members of our legal committee and the General Secretary.”

His comments follow the High Court’s decision to sentence Chairman Wontumi to 20 years’ imprisonment on each of the two counts for which he was convicted in the Akonta Mining illegal mining case. The sentences are to run concurrently. The court also fined him 10,000 penalty units on each count.

Akonta Mining Limited, which was also convicted on two counts, was fined 15,000 penalty units on each count.

Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay found Wontumi guilty on Counts One and Four, while Akonta Mining Limited was convicted on Counts Three and Six after ruling that the prosecution had proven all the essential elements of the offences beyond reasonable doubt.