The Minority in Parliament has said the conviction of the opposition party’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, on illegal mining charges raises “serious” questions about due process, while reaffirming support for the fight against galamsey.

In a 10-page statement issued on Monday (20 July), the Minority Caucus in Parliament said it was responding to a High Court judgment by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay that convicted Mr. Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, and Akonta Mining Limited on two counts each under the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006.

The caucus said it was not seeking to defend illegal mining, which it described as a “scourge that has degraded our rivers, poisoned our water bodies and endangered the livelihoods of generations yet unborn.”

“Our concern is institutional. It is with the manner in which state power is exercised, and with whether that exercise is even handed,” the statement signed by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin said.

“Denial of counsel of choice”
The opposition’s main objection centered on what it called “a historic breach” — the delivery of judgment in the absence of Wontumi’s lead counsel.

The caucus said the lawyer had notified the court in advance of a prior professional engagement outside the jurisdiction. It argued this raised questions under Article 19(2)(g) of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to be defended by a lawyer of one’s choice.

Drawing parallels to the 2003 conviction of former NDC official Tsatsu Tsikata — later overturned on appeal in 2016 — the Minority said constitutional rights “are not partisan property.”

“If that was a miscarriage of justice in 2016, the same standard cannot simply evaporate in 2026 because the accused now wears a different party’s colours,” it said.

Constitutional referral and “selective justice”
The Minority also faulted the High Court for refusing an application to refer constitutional questions to the Supreme Court under Article 130. It cited a 2016 Supreme Court ruling in the Zanetor Rawlings case as precedent.

In addition, the statement accused the government of “selective justice.” It pointed to a July 2025 directive by the Attorney-General to investigate two NDC officials over illegal mining allegations, saying there had been “no comparable update on charges, arraignment or trial dates.”

It also cited reports of an alleged takeover of a mining concession in Prestea Huni Valley and the prosecution of an NPP MP in Asutifi North, arguing there was a “very different tempo and character of state action depending on whose conduct is under scrutiny.”

Calls for transparency
The caucus called on the Attorney-General to publish the state’s enforcement record on illegal mining across the political spectrum, and urged the Court of Appeal to give “full and rigorous consideration” to any appeal based on fair trial concerns.

“Due process is not a technicality to be waived when it is politically inconvenient to enforce it. It is the whole point of having a Constitution at all,” the statement said.

Source: Asaaseradio