Aspiring National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Afoko, has stated that although he sympathises with Ashanti Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, he would need more information before describing him as a political prisoner.
Reacting to Wontumi’s 20-year prison sentence in an interview at Channelone TV on the 22nd of July, 2026, Mr. Afoko disclosed that his first reaction was one of sympathy because of his own experience with imprisonment.
He explained that when he first heard about the verdict while travelling from Kumasi to Accra, his thoughts immediately went to the conditions in Ghana’s prisons.
“My heart went out to him because I know what prison is like in Ghana,” Mr. Afoko stated.
He noted that after making inquiries about the case, he was informed that changes made to the law during the NPP administration increased the punishment for the offence from a maximum of about five years to a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 25 years.
He observed that the judge imposed a 20-year sentence, adding that even the minimum sentence of 15 years would have been excessive in his view.
Commenting on claims by some members of the NPP that Chairman Wontumi should be regarded as a political prisoner, Mr. Afoko said he was not ready to support or reject that position.
According to him, the party’s General Secretary and other senior lawyers were better placed to explain the legal basis for that claim, and he would first consult them before expressing a firm opinion.
Mr. Afoko recalled that he considered himself a political prisoner in the past because he was arrested from his home and detained without trial.
He stressed that he would rather be enlightened by the party’s legal committee before making further comments on whether Chairman Wontumi should also be described as a political prisoner.
“My heart went out to him, but I would need to be enlightened before calling him a political prisoner,” Mr. Afoko said.
By: Jacob Aggrey