Minority MPs wear black in Parliament to protest Wontumi’s 20-year jail sentence

The coordinated action by the NPP lawmakers came a day after the High Court convicted Chairman Wontumi in a case relating to illegal mining, a judgment the opposition party has described as unjust and politically troubling.

Minority Members of Parliament on Tuesday turned up in black attire at Parliament House in a symbolic protest against the conviction and 20-year prison sentence imposed on the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi.

The conviction of Chairman Wontumi has generated widespread political and legal debate, drawing mixed reactions from politicians, legal practitioners, civil society organisations and anti-corruption advocates.