Wontumi’s Sister Is Dead , Yandoh Blames Tragic Loss on 20-Year Prison Shock

The family of incarcerated former Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has been hit by another painful blow following the death of his sister Regina Wiafe Antwi.

The death comes barely two months after Wontumi was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Accra High Court over illegal mining-related offences involving Akonta Mining Limited.

The family is scheduled to hold the one-week observation of the late woman at Kuntenase in the Ashanti Region on Wednesday, September 30, 2026.

Former NPP Ashanti Regional Communications Officer, Paul Yandoh, confirmed the death in an interview on Nhyira FM’s Kuro Yi Mu Nsem. A portion of the interview in which he spoke about the tragedy was later shared on social media on Tuesday, September 29, 2026.

According to Mr Yandoh, Wontumi’s sister, was deeply affected by the events surrounding her brother’s arrest, prosecution and eventual imprisonment.

He claimed that she became emotionally devastated after Wontumi was jailed, collapsed and never fully recovered.

“Everything is not fine. Wontumi’s younger sister, ever since the NDC began to frustrate and detain him here and there and finally jailed him for 20 years, fainted from shock and never fully recovered. Now, she has succumbed to her death. Tomorrow we are all going there for her one week, to pay our condolences. The father cannot even eat,” he said in Twi.

Mr Yandoh further claimed that the family had been struggling emotionally since Wontumi’s incarceration, saying his father had also been badly affected and had lost his appetite.

He went further to link the sister’s death to the emotional distress he said she suffered following the treatment of her brother.

“His sister wouldn’t have died but for the way he was treated,” he said.

However, no official medical explanation for the death had been provided by the family at the time of reporting. The tragedy adds another painful chapter to a case that has already caused significant political and legal controversy.

On July 20, 2026, the Accra High Court sentenced Wontumi to 20 years’ imprisonment after finding him guilty of illegal mining-related offences. The court imposed two 20-year sentences, which are to run concurrently, meaning the effective prison term is 20 years.

The court found him guilty in relation to the assignment of mineral rights connected to Akonta Mining Limited without the required ministerial approval and the facilitation of unlicensed mining operations on the Samreboi concession.

The NPP has since announced plans to challenge the conviction and sentence.

For the Wontumi family, however, the legal battle has now been overshadowed by a deeply personal loss, with relatives preparing to mourn a woman whose death, according to Mr Yandoh, has left the family struggling to cope.