The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has denied claims that he received a GH₵50 million payment from the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) during the final days of the Akufo-Addo administration.
Recent media reports alleged that Wontumi’s company, Hallmark Engineering, was paid a substantial sum by COCOBOD despite a directive from the then-incoming Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, to suspend contract payments during the transition period. But Wontumi has dismissed the allegations as completely false and misleading.
“It is absolutely untrue that I collected money from COCOBOD,” Wontumi told journalists in Accra on Monday, May 26, shortly after being granted bail in a separate case involving alleged illegal mining.
He explained that contractors do not receive advance payments from government agencies and must instead pre-finance their projects.
“If you are constructing a road, the government doesn’t give you the money upfront you use your own funds,” he stated.
According to Wontumi, his company completed the project using internal resources and, like all government contractors, was only eligible for reimbursement once the work was done and properly assessed.
“The contractor is reimbursed only after the road is completed,” he explained. “At that point, engineers from the Ghana Highways Authority and COCOBOD assess the project and value it based on the agreed rates.”
He added that the contract specified payment within 28 days of project completion. However, he claimed that COCOBOD took nearly three years to fulfill its financial obligation.
“So COCOBOD cannot claim they do not owe me,” he said.
Credit: CNR