Witness says he has no proof Wontumi assigned Samreboi concession

Michael Gyedu Ayisi, the first prosecution witness in the ongoing criminal trial involving Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has told the High Court in Accra that he has no documentary evidence to support claims that the Samreboi mining concession was assigned by Chairman Wontumi to Henry Okum.

Michael Gyedu Ayisi made the admission under cross-examination as the State opened its case against Chairman Wontumi and two other accused persons for allegedly allowing mining on its Samreboi concession without authorisation.

The witness, an artisanal miner, told the court presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay that his belief that Henry Okum took over the concession from Chairman Wontumi was based solely on what Okum told him, and not on any document he had personally seen.

When asked directly whether he had seen any deed of assignment or concession document evidencing a transfer of mining rights from Chairman Wontumi to Henry Okum, Ayisi responded in the negative, stating plainly: “I have not seen any document.”

Pressed further on how he concluded that the land was a concession belonging to Chairman Wontumi, the witness maintained that it was Okum who informed him and took him to the site at Samreboi in the Western Region.

Ayisi also admitted that he did not know the boundaries of the Samreboi concession, had never seen a concession document in his life, and had no formal training in mining, but learnt the trade “on the job.”

The witness further told the court that he had never met Chairman Wontumi personally, nor seen him at the Samreboi site, explaining that his only knowledge of the NPP regional chairman was from television.
“I have only seen him on  TV,” Ayisi stated.

However, the witness insisted that in Samreboi, it was commonly known that the land belonged to Chairman Wontumi, saying, “even a child knows” the land is his.

Chairman Wontumi is facing charges, including permitting mining operations on his Samreboi concession without the requisite approval and authorisation, contrary to Ghana’s mining laws. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Earlier in his testimony, Ayisi adopted his prosecution witness statement dated October 6, 2025, in which he described himself as an administrator and supervisor working under Henry Okum at the Samreboi site.

He indicated in the witness statement that he supervised mining in unmined portions of the land while overseeing reclamation and coconut planting in previously mined areas.

During cross-examination by counsel for Chairman Wontumi, Andy Appiah-Kubi, the witness also admitted that he extracted gold from the site and handed it over to Henry Okum on several occasions, though he could not tell the value or frequency of the transaction.