News:
August 18, 2026
The Minority in Parliament has thrown down a direct challenge to the Majority Caucus, demanding an unfettered, full-scale debate on the staggering GH¢22 billion losses racked up by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) through the gold purchase activities of the state-owned Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod).
Addressing a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday, Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin cautioned the Majority against using their numerical superiority to stifle debate as they had previously done, and urged them to allow their “darling boy”—GoldBod Chief Executive Officer Sammy Gyamfi—to come clean on the operations of the embattled institution.
“The Majority should not repeat the use of their superior majority to stampede the debate as they did earlier,” Afenyo-Markin said. “They should help their ‘darling boy,’ the CEO of GoldBod, Sammy Gyamfi, to clarify happenings at the GoldBod.”
The controversy stems from the International Monetary Fund’s latest Country Report No. 26/213, which revealed that the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP)—run jointly by the central bank and GoldBod—generated losses exceeding US$1.7 billion in 2025, equivalent to about 1.5% of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product. In local currency terms, that translates to approximately GH¢22 billion.
The figure represents a dramatic escalation from the US$214 million loss first flagged by the IMF in December 2025 for the nine months ending September 2025. The Fund said the gross loss on the doré gold trade with GoldBod ultimately reached the GH¢22 billion cited, before offsets from government intervention and gains on bullion sales reduced the net hit in the central bank’s audited accounts.
“You Don’t Trade in Gold and Make Losses”
Afenyo-Markin, who is also the Member of Parliament for Effutu, dismissed suggestions that the losses could be attributed to market conditions, insisting that trading in gold should inherently be profitable.
“These losses are not bad luck. You don’t trade in gold and make losses. They are not a difficult market,” he declared. “If you sell gold and make a loss, then you are not a good trader”.
The Minority Leader argued that the figures pointed to serious management and policy failures at GoldBod. “They expose the crass incompetence of the GoldBod’s management and misaligned policies of the government,” he said. “No serious institution loses this money by accident. This is what happens when an untouchable few are handed the nation’s gold with no one watching”.
Afenyo-Markin also highlighted that his criticism was not driven by personal bitterness, noting that the Minority had previously succeeded in forcing GoldBod to reduce fees paid to gold aggregators from 15% to 9%, and subsequently to 5%, after they raised concerns in Parliament.
“I don’t envy success. I celebrate success. If GoldBod is doing well, I will be one of the few who would come and praise GoldBod, but GoldBod is failing,” he said. “It is not me who is saying it. It is the IMF that is saying it”.
He further warned that GoldBod could become a “major scandal,” urging management to exercise caution over aspects of its operations that remain unknown to the public.
Ghanamps.com