Bawumia was brainchild behind Domestic Gold Purchase Programme – Samuel Jinapor

Former Lands and Natural Resources Minister Samuel Abdulai Jinapor has vehemently refuted assertions that belittle the pivotal role played by former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in the inception of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme. In an August 31, 2026 Facebook post, Jinapor emphasized that the programme was conceived by Dr Bawumia during a period of profound economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

On that day, Jinapor stated that Dr Bawumia, then Head of the Economic Management Team, convened strategic meetings with pertinent stakeholders prior to authorizing the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to engage other stakeholders ahead of the program’s official launch on June 17, 2021. According to Jinapor, this initiative marked a significant divergence from Ghana’s traditional method of accumulating gold reserves.

He explained that while Ghana had previously procured gold from overseas to augment its reserves in 1960, the new program enabled the Bank of Ghana to purchase gold locally from licensed aggregators and mining companies, compensating them at the Ghana cedi rate of the prevailing market price. Jinapor also highlighted that the program had markedly augmented Ghana’s gold reserves, which were recorded at 8.77 tonnes at the time of its launch.

"Even though the Bank of Ghana's objective was to double this figure within five years, as at December 2024, less than four years into the program's execution, the Bank of Ghana had nearly quadrupled their reserves, rising from 8.77 tonnes to 30.53 tonnes," he asserted. Jinapor further contended that the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme had contributed significantly to Ghana's economic stability and external reserves.

Citing current Bank of Ghana Governor Dr Johnson Asiama, he underscored that the program had "strengthened external buffers and macroeconomic stability" and had been "crucial to the stabilisation goal of the Bank of Ghana." Jinapor, thus, urged the public record to acknowledge that the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme was the brainchild of Dr Bawumia.