Former Information Minister and Ofoase-Ayirebi MP, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has described Chairman Wontumi as a political prisoner, arguing that the NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman was not convicted for engaging in illegal mining but over activities allegedly carried out by another person on land linked to his company.

Reacting to Wontumi’s prison sentence, Oppong Nkrumah said the party believes the justice delivery system has been applied inconsistently.

“Several NDC persons whose submission of no case had been rejected by the courts and had a case to answer, have been left off the hook by the NDC prosecutors and the courts,” he said.

According to him, Wontumi’s conviction did not stem from allegations that he personally engaged in illegal mining.

“Instead, Wontumi has been jailed not for illegal mining but that someone who he argues he gave his company’s former mine to, for purposes of reclamation, was found doing mining on it,” he stated.

Oppong Nkrumah further questioned why, in his view, the individual allegedly involved in the mining activity was not punished.

“And yet the actual illegal miner has been set loose rather,” he said.

He argued that the outcome was inconsistent with the principles of justice.

“This is not law or justice. It is a weaponising of the justice delivery system. This is why the NPP considers Wontumi a political prisoner. The justice system has been turned upside down,” Oppong Nkrumah added.

'There was no evidence that Wontumi assigned his mineral rights' - Justin Kodua