‘You can’t call it losses today after defending it’ – Sammy Gyamfi to NPP on Gold-for-Oil Programme

Sammy Gyamfi, CEO of the Ghana Gold Board, has criticized the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for double standards in its stance on financial costs related to Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme. This criticism follows the NPP's denial of allegations by IMANI Africa that the Gold-for-Oil program incurred financial losses amounting to GH¢7.2 billion.

In response to IMANI Africa's allegations, the NPP stated in a September 29, 2025 statement that there was no evidence of leakage or diversion, and that the reported figure was a distortion of audited financial records. Sammy Gyamfi has now used this same argument to challenge the NPP's current criticism of losses in the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.

Gyamfi pointed out that the NPP had defended similar financial costs under the Gold-for-Oil program, stating that these costs were necessary to provide foreign exchange liquidity for petroleum imports. The party also claimed that the expenditures were not mismanagement or corruption, as the Bank of Ghana's actions were transparently reported in audited financial statements.

Gyamfi questioned why the NPP is now treating the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme's financial costs as evidence of recklessness or mismanagement, when it previously defended similar costs under the Gold-for-Oil program. He argued that accounting losses should not be considered in isolation and that the economic benefits generated by the programme should be taken into account.