Wontumi Lives In Fear

The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as �Wontumi,� is currently living in fear following threats on his life. He believes the ruling government and its assigns are hatching a sinister plot against him. He claimed the government was planning to plant narcotics in either his car or residence in order to arrest him. �I continue to receive threats of death on my life. Some close confidants of the government who are my friends have in recent times also hinted me that there is a grand design to plant drugs either in my car or in any of my buildings so as to successfully brand me as a drug baron,� he stated in an open letter to government which he issued in Accra yesterday. He noted, �I have never been and will never engage in drug trade or any of its related business as the government and some NDC members are seeking to associate me with.� Resolve Even though Wontumi expressed concern about the rampant mysterious killings in the country in recent times, he said he would not bother to lodge an official complaint with the police because �the police in particular have on crucial occasions failed me.� Apart from that, the troubled Regional Chairman said, �This is also due to the simple reason that I cannot guarantee the safety of my trusted confidants (informers).� �I rather prefer stating my complaint before God Almighty and the court of public opinion (Ghanaians), especially now that mystery and contract killings have become the order of the day in our country.� That notwithstanding, Wontumi noted, �I remain resolute and firm in my conviction that the NPP is better placed to improve the living standards of the ordinary Ghanaian and that I will continue to stand by that conviction irrespective of the plots and threats on my life.� Threats He recalled that �in the early part 2012, I received an anonymous call from a personality who claims to work in the National Security outfit of the NDC government, threatening to destroy me and my company if I did not stop showing support to the cause of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).� According to him, some leading members of ruling government openly expressed their unhappiness about his decision to invite his Member of Parliament (MP) and some other opposition MPs and not the Minister of Roads and Transport, who is a member of the NDC to inauguration of the �Wontumi Griffon� series of trucks in the country. Since then, the NPP strongman indicated that �several efforts have been made directly or indirectly by the NDC administration to find ways of either plotting criminality against me or wage a smear campaign to destroy my hard won reputation.� This, he said, was part of reasons why his small-scale mining companies-Hansol & Akonta Mining Companies and property worth about US$3billion were destroyed by State Security under the pretext of checking illegal mining in Ghana. Hope Though he claimed the NDC government wields enormous power capable of destroying him, Wontumi said, �What they need to remember however is that power and authority comes from the Lord yet it is not eternal for man or any government and that one day justice will conquer injustice as light conquers darkness. �I take this opportunity therefore to inform and assure all Ghanaians, especially the NPP supporters, that although the NDC is after my life, I will remain resolute and prayerful and that all I need is their prayers and support to carry the party in Ashanti region to victory in 2016,� he noted.