Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana’s Department of Economics, Dr Adu Owusu Sarkodie, has criticised what he describes as the excessive politicisation of the debate over losses associated with the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod).
According to him, the focus should not be on the political arguments surrounding the reported losses but on finding ways to reduce the costs involved in the gold purchasing programme.
“We have over-politicised this GoldBod loss. Let’s rather focus on optimisation of the cost and fixing the forex differentials,” Dr Sarkodie said on TV3’s The Key Points on Saturday, August 22.
He also questioned why the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and GoldBod did not explain the reported losses to the public before the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised the issue.
Dr Sarkodie believes early communication from the two institutions could have helped prevent the confusion and public debate that followed the IMF report.
“We expect BoG to call some of the experts to explain the cause of the loss,” he said.
“We should have heard from BoG or GoldBod before the IMF. That would have cured the noise. We have over-politicised the loss,” he added.
His comments come amid a dispute over whether GoldBod recorded losses under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme and how the reported US$1.7 billion figure should be interpreted.
Chief Executive Officer of GoldBod, Sammy Gyamfi, has rejected claims that the institution withheld financial information from the Auditor-General.
Speaking at the government’s Accountability Series on Wednesday, August 19, Mr Gyamfi said the Auditor-General’s team had unrestricted access to all relevant documents during its audit of GoldBod’s 2025 accounts.
He challenged the media to verify the matter with the Auditor-General, insisting that all documents requested by the audit team were provided and that issues raised in the management letter were addressed.
Mr Gyamfi said the resulting audit report contained no adverse findings against GoldBod concerning alleged losses, procurement breaches or violations of the Public Financial Management Act.
He further cited the Auditor-General’s report as showing that GoldBod recorded an operational surplus of GH¢909.7 million and an overall surplus of GH¢5.44 billion for the 2025 financial year.
“We have not made any losses as claimed by the Minority Leader,” Mr Gyamfi said, challenging Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin to identify any part of the report that proves GoldBod recorded the alleged loss.
Mr Gyamfi’s comments followed a press conference by Mr Afenyo-Markin in Parliament on Tuesday, August 18, where the Minority Leader alleged that the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, operated through GoldBod, recorded losses exceeding US$1.7 billion, equivalent to about GH¢22 billion, in 2025.
Mr Gyamfi’s comments followed a press conference by Mr Afenyo-Markin in Parliament on Tuesday, August 18, where the Minority Leader alleged that the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, operated through GoldBod, recorded losses exceeding US$1.7 billion, equivalent to about GH¢22 billion, in 2025.
Mr Afenyo-Markin cited IMF Country Report No. 26/213 and argued that GoldBod’s reported surplus did not provide the full picture because some transaction costs were allegedly absorbed by the Bank of Ghana.
Mr Gyamfi rejected that interpretation and cautioned against attributing claims to the IMF that were not contained in its report.
“It is important for us not to attribute the IMF to what they have not said. They have not said that the GoldBod is the one that caused the Bank of Ghana to lose 1.7 billion dollars,” he said.
He also pointed out that the Bank of Ghana recorded losses under the same programme before GoldBod was established.
“There was no GoldBod in 2024,” Mr Gyamfi said, referring to a separate US$400 million loss attributed to 2024 in the IMF report.
The ongoing GoldBod loss debate has therefore centred on how the reported figures should be accounted for, which institution bears the losses and whether the costs of the gold purchasing programme can be reduced. Dr Sarkodie is urging stakeholders to move beyond the political arguments and focus on finding practical solutions.
By : Rachael Djabakie