Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, also known as Chairman Wontumi, has denied allegations that he received a GH¢50 million payment from the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
Recent media reports claimed that Wontumi’s company, Hallmark Engineering, was paid the amount in the final days of the Akufo-Addo administration, despite a directive from then-incoming Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, to suspend all contract payments during the transition period.
Speaking to journalists in Accra on Monday, May 26, Wontumi dismissed the reports as “completely false and misleading.”
“It is absolutely untrue that I collected money from COCOBOD,” he stated. He made the comments shortly after being granted bail in an unrelated case involving alleged illegal mining.
Wontumi explained that contractors pre-finance projects and only receive payment after completing the work. “When you construct a road, you use your own money,” he said. “The government reimburses you later.”
He clarified that completed projects undergo verification by engineers from the Ghana Highways Authority and COCOBOD, who assess and value the work before payments are made.
“The contractor gets paid only after that assessment is complete,” he added. “COCOBOD was contractually required to pay within 28 days.”
According to Wontumi, the institution delayed the payment for almost three years. “So COCOBOD cannot say they don’t owe me,” he insisted. “Any money I received was legitimate and long overdue.”
