Ashanti Regional Chairman Wontumi pledged to reunite the NPP and personally engage Kennedy Agyapong if elected national chairman, campaigning as he awaits judgment in his own illegal mining trial.
Speaking in a virtual engagement with the NPP’s Asia and Pacific Caucus, Wontumi said he was ready to lead the party’s rebuilding effort after its 2024 election defeat. “I am built for this battle, and I am fully prepared,” he said, promising to strengthen ties with grassroots members and diaspora branches he admitted the party had previously failed to engage effectively. He proposed consultations on widening the membership base allowed to elect party executives, framed overseas branches as partners in fundraising and voter mobilisation ahead of 2028, and said discipline within the party should be balanced with reconciliation, arguing that punishments already imposed had served their purpose.
On Kennedy Agyapong specifically, Wontumi said dialogue was needed for the party’s future and that he would personally seek an opportunity to engage him. Agyapong, a former presidential aspirant, was referred to the NPP’s National Disciplinary Committee in late June over petitions accusing him of anti party remarks, including criticism of the leadership over the stalled Afari Military Hospital project and comments suggesting he could expose internal wrongdoing. The committee was given two weeks from June 25 to report its findings to the National Council, which has not yet announced an outcome.
Wontumi’s own standing within the party is not free of friction either. Agyapong’s campaign team called last September for disciplinary action against Wontumi himself, accusing him of reckless and divisive remarks alleging that the NPP’s presidential primary schedule had been arranged to favour a particular candidate, a claim the party leadership publicly distanced itself from at the time. Separately, Wontumi is a defendant in an ongoing criminal trial over alleged illegal mining at Samreboi in the Western Region, accused alongside his company, Akonta Mining Limited, of assigning mineral rights without approval and facilitating unlicensed mining in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve. He has pleaded not guilty. The High Court was originally set to deliver judgment on July 3, but adjourned to July 20 after Wontumi’s newly appointed lawyer sought more time to prepare, a request the Attorney General’s office opposed.
Members of the Asia-Pacific Caucus pledged support for the party’s rebuilding effort and for mobilising Ghanaians abroad ahead of the 2028 election.
