Former Western Regional Minister testifies for Wontumi, tenders video evidence of mining concession
A former Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, has taken the witness stand in support of the defence of Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, in the ongoing illegal mining trial involving Akonta Mining Limited at the Accra High Court.
Testifying on Wednesday, May 28, 2026, the former minister, who chaired the Regional Security Council during his tenure, tendered a video recording of the Samreboi concession of Akonta Mining, which he said was captured during an official inspection of the site while he served as REGSEC Chairman. T
he footage, stored on a pen drive, was admitted into evidence after the court overruled a prosecution objection challenging its authenticity, ruling that concerns raised could be addressed through cross-examination.
The prosecution had argued that the absence of a time stamp on the video made it impossible to establish where and when it was recorded and urged the court to reject the pen drive.
Defence counsel Andy Appiah-Kubi countered that the witness statement already provided context for the recording, and the court sided with the defence.
Mr Appiah-Kubi also informed the court that two witness statements had been filed on May 25 and May 28, 2026, and applied for a Case Management Conference on the statements.
However, Senior State Attorney Nana Ama Prempeh told the court that not all witness statements had been served on the prosecution, and flagged that one statement appeared to be for a witness named Evans Adai, whose name had not previously appeared on the defence’s witness list.
She urged the court to direct the defence to provide a full list of all intended witnesses going forward to avoid a piecemeal process.
The court noted that one of the statements had been filed less than an hour before proceedings and had not yet reached the court itself. It consequently proceeded to conduct the Case Management Conference solely on Mr Darko-Mensah’s statement filed on May 25.
Chairman Wontumi and Akonta Mining face six charges alleging that they permitted two individuals, Henry Okum and Michael Gyedu Ayisi, to carry out mining activities on the Akonta Mining concession without obtaining prior ministerial approval from the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources.
The case has been adjourned to June 1, 2026, at 2 pm.
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