Wontumi's sister dies; NPP figure Paul Yandoh links her death to his imprisonment

Pinned summary · as of 15:41

A sister of jailed former Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, widely called Chairman Wontumi, has died. Paul Yandoh, the party's former regional communications officer, announced it on Nhyira FM and tied the loss to the family's distress over Wontumi's jailing, a view that is his own.

What we know

• Paul Yandoh, formerly the NPP's communications officer in the Ashanti Region, announced the woman's death while speaking on the Kuro Yi Mu Nsem programme of Nhyira FM.
• Mr Yandoh said Wontumi's sister was crushed emotionally after her brother's arrest and imprisonment, collapsed, and never recovered. He also said Wontumi's father has been badly affected and is not eating well.
• Mr Yandoh blamed the way Wontumi was treated, and the NDC's part in it, for the death. He said the sister would still be alive had her brother not been handled as he was.
• The family will mark one week since her death with an observance in Kuntenase, Ashanti Region, on Wednesday, 30 September.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  The Publisher Online named the deceased as Regina Wiafe Antwi. Adom Online did not name her, and Mr Yandoh was reported as withholding her personal details, so the name rests on one report.
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  The Publisher Online reported that the family had offered no official medical account of the cause of death when it published. Mr Yandoh's link between the death and Wontumi's jailing is his own claim, and no other source has backed it.
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  Per the Publisher Online, Mr Yandoh alleged that the NDC harassed and held Wontumi before eventually sending him to prison for two decades. This is a political accusation and no NDC reaction was reported.
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  The Publisher Online reported that on 20 July 2026 Wontumi received a 20-year sentence from the Accra High Court for illegal mining offences, with two 20-year terms served concurrently, and that the NPP intends to challenge the conviction. No other report carried these details.

Why it matters for Ghana

The death has drawn the imprisonment of a prominent Ashanti party figure into a fresh political argument, as an NPP voice pins responsibility on the NDC. For the family and for party supporters in the Ashanti Region, the observance at Kuntenase is the next public moment. The medical cause of death has not been stated, so the political claim remains one person's view.