Asiedu Nketia dismisses NPP’s GoldBod criticism as political distraction

National Democratic Congress (NDC) Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketia has dismissed criticisms of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as mere distractions from the government's economic gains. Speaking on Onua TV, Mr Asiedu Nketia contended that the opposition's attacks by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, in particular, were meant to divert attention from the benefits achieved through the government's gold purchase programme.

He emphasized that the GoldBod initiative was designed to give the state greater control over gold purchases and use the proceeds for national development, much like the COCOBOD arrangement. The GoldBod CEO, Sammy Gyamfi, had previously rejected the claim of a GH¢1.7 billion loss by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but the NPP has persisted in its criticism.

Mr Asiedu Nketia argued that the criticisms were misplaced, comparing GoldBod's operations to the previous government's Gold-for-Oil programme, stating that GoldBod has merely replaced the PMMC with similar terms. He dismissed the IMF report's transaction costs as merely trading costs, not an outright loss to the country. The NDC chairman stressed that Ghana had not lost money through the policy, and the IMF report's findings were not indicative of a loss to the nation.

He urged the public to focus on the broader economic benefits of the GoldBod initiative, citing improved price stability, stable inflation and exchange rates, lower land costs, and increased export revenues.