Barely three months after President John Mahama’s administration directed the Attorney-General to investigate high-ranking officials of the ruling Nat
Barely three months after President John Mahama’s administration directed the Attorney-General to investigate high-ranking officials of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) allegedly implicated in illegal mining, nothing concrete has been done.
The Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Ayine, who serves as Minister for Justice, has neither commenced the investigations nor issued any public statement explaining the delay — a silence critics say smacks of selective justice and political bias.
A Quiet File on NDC Galamsey Suspects
In mid-July 2025, the Attorney-General’s office formally wrote to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to probe two key NDC executives — National Organiser Joseph Yamin and Third Vice Chairman Yakubu Abanga — after reports linked them to illegal mining activities.
NDC operatives are still in the mining field with some National Security operatives arrested last week in the Ashanti region protecting galamsey operation.
The directive referenced issues raised in the Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng report, which had named several political figures as participants or enablers in galamsey operations.
The letter, dated July 15, 2025, instructed EOCO to “invite the following persons named in recent credible reports for interrogation,” adding that the investigation should also extend to “other persons found complicit in illegal mining activities.”
The Minerals Commission’s Chief Executive was also to assist with technical guidance.
Despite the clarity of this directive, no official progress has been made.
Neither EOCO nor the Attorney-General’s Department has updated the public on the status of the investigation.
Sources within the Ministry of Justice said “no active case file” on the two NDC executives has moved beyond the preliminary correspondence stage.
Meanwhile, Wontumi Faces Swift Prosecution
In sharp contrast, the same Attorney-General has moved with remarkable speed to prosecute Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, widely known as Chairman Wontumi, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
On October 7, 2025, Wontumi was arraigned before the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court, facing six criminal charges related to illegal mining under the Minerals and Mining Act.
He was accused of assigning mineral rights without authorization, facilitating unlicensed mining, and operating within the Tano Nimire Forest Reserve through his company, Akonta Mining Ltd.
The NPP regional chairman pleaded not guilty to all charges but was slapped with a total bail sum of ₵25 million across two separate cases.
This rapid prosecution of an NPP figure has sparked heated political commentary, with critics accusing Dr. Ayine of weaponising the justice system against political opponents while protecting allies within his party.
Accusations of Double Standards
Observers, particularly from m the opposition, argue that the Attorney-General’s selective application of justice undermines public trust in the legal system.
“If NDC executives like Yamin and Abanga have been named in credible galamsey reports, why haven’t they been invited or prosecuted?” one NPP member questioned. “It’s hypocritical for the Attorney-General to go after Wontumi and other NPP personalities while sweeping his own party’s cases under the carpet.”
Critics further point to earlier decisions by the Attorney-General to discontinue several corruption and financial loss cases involving former NDC officials, describing the move as “partisan protectionism.”
Mahama’s Galamsey Promise vs. Reality
President Mahama’s campaign promise in 2024 to grant amnesty to low-level illegal miners and instead target the “galamsey kingpins” raised hopes of a fairer, more strategic fight against the menace.
However, the current state of affairs tells a different story.
Instead of focusing on the powerful political financiers of illegal mining, government operatives appear to be turning their attention to smaller operators and opposition figures.
The recent arrests of local miners in the Western and Ashanti Regions, many of whom cite unemployment as the cause of their actions, have raised fresh questions about the sincerity of the administration’s anti-galamsey campaign.
Dennis Miracles Aboagye, a leading communicator of the NPP, have accused the NDC of betraying its own environmental pledges and turning Ghana’s forests into political battlefields.
He further described the Mahama administration as a “disruptive interlude in governance,” claiming it is wasting the nation’s time with rhetoric and selective justice.
A Pattern of Political Justice
The unfolding events reinforce a growing perception that the justice system operates under political influence.
While cases involving NPP figures such as Wontumi are fast-tracked and publicised, similar allegations against NDC operatives are either delayed, downplayed, or abandoned entirely.
For many Ghanaians, the question remains: Why has the Attorney-General buried the investigations into NDC officials while zealously pursuing NPP members in the same galamsey scandal?
Until Dr. Ayine provides clarity on the stalled EOCO probe into Yamin and Abanga case, the accusations of hypocrisy and selective prosecution will continue to haunt the Ministry of Justice — and by extension, the Mahama administration’s credibility in the fight against illegal mining.
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