The Minority in Parliament has maintained that the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) must account for an alleged GHS 22 billion loss reported under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP) in 2025.
The Minority’s response follows a statement by the Chief Executive of GoldBod at the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, in which the government agency addressed concerns raised by the opposition over its financial and operational performance.
According to Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the GoldBod’s response did not disprove the reported loss but instead confirmed its existence.
He said the GoldBod CEO had not disputed the International Monetary Fund’s reported finding of a US$1.7 billion loss, equivalent to about GHS22 billion, under the DGPP in 2025, but had instead challenged responsibility for the loss.
The Minority Leader argued that regardless of which government institution carried the loss, the funds constituted public money and therefore required accountability.
Mr Afenyo-Markin also questioned the fee structure associated with the programme.
He said GoldBod had indicated that it accounted for about GHS133 billion in advances in 2025 and received an assay fee of 0.258 percent and a service fee of 0.5 percent.
Based on those figures, he estimated that GoldBod earned about GHS1 billion in fees from the programme.
He further pointed to GoldBod’s reported GHS907 million operational surplus, arguing that the figure was lower than the fees earned from a programme that reportedly recorded the GHS22 billion loss.
“Strip out the agency fees and there is no operational surplus to speak of,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said, insisting that GoldBod must provide further clarification on the figures.
The Minority Leader also challenged GoldBod’s position on the broader economic impact of the DGPP.
He noted that GoldBod had attributed the scaling up of the programme to developments including the 41 percent appreciation of the Cedi, an increase in foreign exchange reserves from US$8.9 billion to US$13 billion, and declining inflation.
Mr Afenyo-Markin argued that an institution that takes credit for the benefits of the programme cannot distance itself from the financial costs associated with it.
He also raised concerns about what he described as shifting arrangements for financing the Ghana Gold for Reserves and Assets Programme (GANRAP).
According to him, the GoldBod CEO indicated that responsibility for GANRAP implementation costs moved from the Bank of Ghana to the Ministry of Finance in July 2026, while GoldBod was seeking to raise funds independently from August.
The Minority Leader described the changes as evidence that the funding model remained unsettled.
He further maintained that the GHS22 billion loss reported in the IMF’s August 2026 Sixth Country Report constitutes a financial loss to the Republic and must be properly accounted for.
Mr Afenyo-Markin also criticised comments allegedly made by the GoldBod CEO in responding to the Minority’s concerns, describing a reference to a brothel as inappropriate for a public official responding to questions about public funds.
“Ghanaians asked for figures. They were given insults. The figures are still outstanding,” he said.
The Minority has therefore reiterated its demand for detailed explanations on GoldBod’s financial performance, the DGPP losses and the funding arrangements underpinning the government’s gold-for-reserves strategy.
