Minority Leader in Parliament Alexander Afenyo-Markin has fired back at Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) Chief Executive Officer Sammy Gyamfi following his responses to the Minority’s concerns over the financial and operational performance of the institution.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said Mr Gyamfi’s appearance at the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, had failed to adequately address the Minority’s concerns over reported losses under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP).
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Minority Leader said the GoldBod CEO’s response “confirms more than it rebuts”, particularly regarding the reported US$1.7 billion, equivalent to about GH¢22 billion, loss under the programme in 2025.
According to Mr Afenyo-Markin, Mr Gyamfi did not dispute the International Monetary Fund’s reported loss but instead sought to contest who should bear responsibility for it.
“The loss is admitted. The Chief Executive does not dispute the IMF’s finding that there is a loss of US$1.7 billion (22 billion Ghana cedis) under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme in 2025. He disputes only who should be blamed,” the statement said.
The Minority Leader argued that the loss remained a liability of the state regardless of which public institution’s balance sheet ultimately carried it.
He also questioned GoldBod’s reported GH¢907 million operational surplus, arguing that the figure should be considered against the fees the institution received from the same programme.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said GoldBod accounted for about GH¢133 billion in advances in 2025 and was paid an assay fee of 0.258% and a service fee of 0.5%.
Based on those figures, he said GoldBod earned approximately GH¢1 billion in fees from the programme.
He argued that the reported operational surplus was therefore smaller than the fee income earned from a programme that, according to the IMF report cited by the Minority, incurred a GH¢22 billion loss.
“Strip out the agency fees and there is no operational surplus to speak of,” he said, insisting that Mr Gyamfi had not addressed that concern.
Mr Afenyo-Markin further challenged GoldBod’s position on the benefits associated with the DGPP, arguing that the institution could not claim credit for positive economic outcomes while distancing itself from the programme’s losses.
He cited GoldBod’s role in the reported 41% appreciation of the cedi, the increase in Ghana’s reserves from US$8.9 billion to US$13 billion and the decline in inflation.
“An institution that claims authorship of the benefits cannot describe itself as a passive agent when the costs are counted,” he said.
The Minority Leader also raised concerns over what he described as changing funding arrangements for the Ghana Accelerated National Reserves Accumulation Programme (GANRAP).
He said responsibility for implementation costs had moved from the Bank of Ghana to the Ministry of Finance in July 2026, while GoldBod was seeking to raise funds independently from August.
“Three funding arrangements in six months is not a settled model,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said.
He maintained that the reported GH¢22 billion loss constituted a financial loss to the Republic and must be accounted for.
The statement comes a day after the Minority held a press conference to raise concerns about GoldBod’s financial and operational performance and reported losses under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.
