Don't use your supermajority to stop scrutiny of GOLDBOD - Afenyo-Markin tells NDC MPs

The Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has announced that the Minority will file a motion to hold the Ghana Gold Board (GOLDBOD) accountable for the financial losses it is experiencing. Speaking at a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday, August 18, Afenyo-Markin urged NDC lawmakers not to use their majority status in Parliament to obstruct the motion.

He emphasized that their prepared motion will be presented when Parliament reconvenes next week and expressed the hope that the Majority will back the proposal. Afenyo-Markin stated that the Minority intends to examine the 22 billion Cedis in losses at GOLDBOD. He argued that if a single state institution is responsible for gold procurement, assessment, and export while another institution supplies the capital and bears the majority of the risks, Parliament has the right to question the prudence of the risk allocation.

Afenyo-Markin further criticized GOLDBOD, asserting that it utilizes the Bank of Ghana as a proxy to avoid accountability. He claimed that while GOLDBOD's earnings appear clean externally, they are fundamentally problematic. He highlighted that the losses amount to a significant drain on the national budget, reflecting poor government policies.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the IMF suggests that 17% of the value of each gold ounce sold by the Bank of Ghana disappears, disappearing through the rates paid to miners and those used in financial records.