Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the former Majority Leader in Parliament has warned the NDC government that the Goldbod cannot be turned into a job for the boys.
According to Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Goldbod cannot be left in the hands of people with no work experience.
He further noted that Ghana cannot leave its gold in the hands of such people.
Speaking at the Kumasi Dialogue by the parliamentarian which was themed: “Assessing the 2025 Budget: Implications for Kumasi’s Development and the Way Forward Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stated, “Terms to stabilise exchange rate through gold marketing, the Goldbod being introduced by the NDC truth be said, if they will do it and do it well it will help. It is a good intent”.
It is a good intent that they have expressed, you expect to populate the board with people with demonstrable competencies in commodity trading and so on. If you take people with no work experience, job for the boys, we can’t leave the country’s gold in the hands of such people”, he said.
“If we get it wrong at the very outset, it will be dangerous for us as a country”, he added.
The NDC their manifesto promise, the Ghana Gold Board is being established to regulate the small-scale mining sector.
Sammy Gyamfi the acting CEO of the Precious Mineral and Marketing Commission, has been tasked to lead the formation of the Goldbod.
The finance minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson while delivering the 2025 budget to parliament listed government measures to stabilise the exchange rate.
They include establishing GoldBod, a scheme to increase foreign exchange reserves by leveraging Ghana’s gold resources to support the cedi. Continue the BoG’s foreign exchange forward auctions to provide stability to the currency market.
Meanwhile, in a Facebook post, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson also revealed the height of Ghana’s economic crisis in 2022, a staggering 60 tonnes of gold, valued at an estimated $1.2 billion, were smuggled out of the country through illegal channels.
Dr Forson disclosed that he engaged with officials from the UK-Ghana Gold Programme yesterday, an initiative aimed at breaking the link between illegal artisanal mining and serious organized crime.
He noted that discussions were centred on measures to strengthen Ghana’s gold sector, eliminate smuggling, and boost revenue.
A major step in addressing the issue, according to the Finance Minister, is the creation of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod).
This new institution will regulate the gold sector, curb smuggling, and promote responsible gold trade.
He stressed that GoldBod will also work closely with the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) to enhance pricing mechanisms, introduce pre-financing options for small-scale miners, encourage whistleblower reports on smuggling activities, and adopt responsible sourcing practices that align with the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) certification.
As part of efforts to strengthen Ghana’s gold industry, Dr Forson announced that the government will fund GoldBod to purchase three tonnes of gold every week, a move aimed at increasing the country’s foreign.
Additionally, Sammy Gyamfi has stated the suggested GoldBod framework, only a single state-backed entity will have the authority to export gold from Ghana.
Speaking on JOYNEWS Sammy Gyamfi stated, “The unstructured, unregulated system led to a situation where we were not getting the forex we are supposed to get as a nation, from the gold we export from Ghana”.
“If the person wants to export through legal means, he loses out completely. So most of these people, especially the foreigners, they buy to smuggle, and when they smuggle, the state is deprived or denied of the forex,” he added.
He further added, “So under the GoldBod, no one can export gold except the GoldBod, and once we are the ones exporting, all the dollars will come back”.
“When you have GoldBod, you buy the gold, you export the gold. When you export the gold that same day, you get 90% of the dollars in the country. It’s in your account at the Bank of Ghana.
“So we don’t have to wait for 30 days for an exporter, a private person, to bring us dollars. Because it is GoldBod, once we export that same day, we get 90 to 95% of the dollars, and within 48 hours, the remainder of the dollars come,” Mr Gyamfi assured.
