Silent On $10B Gain, Loud On $214M ‘Loss’. Hidden Gold in Bedrooms and Palaces Can't Be Sold or Smuggled Because of Sammy Gyamfi's GoldBod?

Sammy Gyamfi must stay focused and firm like a rock, for the accusations thrown at him will continue like dust and smoke to cover his glitter. Some will even be thicker like mud and soot. But the result of his hard work will soon wash it all away like the rain does, and his honesty and transparency will dry it all like the sun excellently does to make him glitter the more.

A group that fiercely criticized the IMF and blamed Ghana's woes on the 16 times Ghana ran to IMF for economic rescue, lied to Ghanaians during electioneering campaign prior to the 2016 elections, and swore never to go to the IMF again touting a 'solid economic management team' that has never been constituted in the history of Ghana they are gifted with. They and rode on that lies to succeed in unseating the then NDC government led by President John Dramani Mahama.

That lie was repeated on the floor of Parliament by the then deputy Finance minister and former MP for Ejisu under the NPP government, the late John Kumah, which was greeted with the loudest acclamation in Parliament to brighten an ordinary Ghanaian's hope that the economic messiahs have indeed arrived to steer their living conditions to at least near the gates of paradise.

Little did Ghanaians know that 'paradise' resided in only their pockets, bedrooms and around their families and friends. For the rest of Ghanaians, hell will become the dividend from investing their votes in the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

They run the economy to its knees to the point the credit rating of Ghana internationally became junk with inflation rising to about 54% in December 2022, and the Ghana cedi to the U. S. dollar ratio finding ‘comfort’ at 17 cedi to a dollar. Prices of goods and services skyrocketed over 100% in most cases.

They had to then run to the IMF they swore never to go to and fought anyone who dared remind them of their stance never to go back to IMF. Even in some instances, with cheeky and abusive words.

IMF as always, will welcome them but made it known to them how they were not credit worthy of rescue. They had to go disgracing Ghana internationally by begging other countries to come to Ghana's aid in convincing the IMF to rescue them. Ghana became a laughing stock internationally, especially when at the same time the then president Nana Akuffo Addo and Dr. Bawumia with slightest opportunity they get on international platforms where trumpeting Ghana without aid and collectively lambasting African countries begging for aid just to make the news headlines when they had plunged the country neck deep to hold the crown of begging for aid internationally with an unqualified trump card. It was so bad to the point Nigeria had to even give Ghana vaccines for children.

A foreign negotiation company will help in brokering a debt restructuring agreement required for IMF approval of Ghana's loan request. The loan release will be in five stages, with each stage contingent on meeting set targets to qualify for the next disbursement.

The conditions brought severe hardship to Ghanaians instead of the ameliorating expectations. The minister of finance then, Ken Ofori Atta who is now wanted by Ghana’s anticorruption authorities (OSP and the Attorney General's office) for alleged misappropriation of funds and to answer questions bordering especially on the National Cathedral building that still remain a dug hole after over $98 million expended, and some NPP government officials organized a Kenkey party to congratulate themselves for adding more debt to the national debt.

Radical 'hair cuts' introduced ended up shaving the savings of bond owning Ghanaians, especially pensioners, leading to the death of affected few. A former Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Sophia Akuffo had to join protestors to picket at the finance ministry against what they believed was daylight thievery of their investments.

Ghanaians will regret their removal of president Mahama in 2016 and quickly made amends by overwhelmingly booting the NPP out in 2024, slapping them with a disgraceful number of seats in Parliament which they are yet to come to terms with. A loss that periodically eject them from their seats straight to the microphones with yet to-be-understood facial expressions and gestures in the name of press conferences.

They clinch to any statement with the slightest mention of the NDC or any of the appointees of president Mahama's name that they feel suitable to spin on without gathering facts, by quickly assembling the press to make mockery of themselves, mostly not befitting their status as lawmakers who ought to know the place of facts better.

How beautiful will it be for Kojo Oppong Nkrumah in stating the alleged $214 million ‘loss’ they are claiming, to provide the profit , and or loss they made in particular years during their time in government to back the grounds they have to come out and expect Ghanaians to take them seriously.

IMF after its fifth assessment of the mess NPP put Ghana into, and the program put in place to build confidence in Ghana's economy again, praised the Mahama and NDC administration for its economic prowess and prudent steps taken to exceed expectations within just 11 months in office.

These prudent steps included the introduction of GoldBod, currently headed by Sammy Gyamfi Esq. An initiative that has raked in over $10 billion in a year.

However, IMF expressed concerns about the global gold market trends and how a potential loss of $214 million stand to be incurred in the process even though about $10 billion was raked in to be a contributory factor to the cedi appreciation to about 11 cedis to a dollar currently, and the attainment of single digit inflation since 2021.

Sammy Gyamfi, the CEO of GoldBod, does not agree with the description of the $214 million ‘loss’ IMF pointed to, and it makes perfect sense just as many agree with him since GoldBod is not a profit-making venture primarily.

If there is such an amount IMF see as a potential loss or a loss, why was it not referred to as a cost that came with bringing Ghana over a whopping $10 billion in just a year?

Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and his NPP minority must not only talk about the $214 million without mentioning the over $10 billion gain GoldBod's pragmatism under the able leadership of Sammy Gyamfi and Bank of Ghana have raked in as well.

Maybe the NPP would have communicated better, if they had told Ghanaians when in the whole of the eight years in power under President Nana Akuffo Addo and Dr. Bawumia they were able to raise any amount to the tune of $10 billion for the country from its natural resources, devoid of the ones that can only be said of raising for their individual pockets, family and friends that Ghanaians have refused to stop singing about all those years.

They will prove their worth and gain the respect of Ghanaians if they had chronicled the magnitude of losses their gold-for-oil program and Bank of Ghana incurred every year while they were in office, to help Ghanaians make informed comparison and judgement on who the better managers of the economy are.

It is unclear what Hon. Kojo Nkrumah led minority press conference sought to prove or communicate to Ghanaians about what the IMF described as loss or cost relative to the GoldBod and Bank of Ghana is.

If the purpose of the GoldBod initiative is to “maximize national revenue from gold, stabilize the local currency (Ghana cedi) by promoting gold as a store of value, and formalize the small-scale mining sector” as the GoldBod Act, 2025 (Act 1140) objectives affirms, what is it that Hon. Kojo Nkrumah and his minority group see to have not been done by the GoldBod with only eight month being in existence?

Act 1140 passed by Parliament that the same minority is an integral part of, on page 14, under item 23 and 24 spells out when the Gold Board must submit its accounts to the Auditor General for auditing (at the end of financial year), and who and where the audit report must go to. What is the rush then?

Must Ghanaians then begin to believe that the minority did not read the GoldBod Act 1140 extensively even if they were against it? Are they serious then when it comes to discussions on the floor of Parliament, with all due respect?

With all due respect, must they make a mountain out of a caution the IMF pointed out of an assessment the same IMF was extremely impressed about, after their already forgotten requested deferred debt servicing to 2026 they begged for that the NDC government has continued to pay instead of waiting?

A diligent minority would have waited for the audit report to understand better what the alleged $214 million loss would have entailed in the audit report and take it up from there, and not to just clinch to an IMF pronouncement hoping to score cheap political points from it.

Are we to believe that those NPP executives and Parliamentarians who allegedly have mining concessions, and made seized excavators theirs in the past, including Kojo Oppong Nkrumah allegedly, are also illegal miners/galamseyers? If they are not and are operating under the umbrella of small-scale miners, are they unwilling to sell their gold to BOG through GoldBod at a particular price? If it is the case, then they are the ones being selfish and holding the nation to a ransom by their action.

One would have expected that as lawmakers who are supposed to have Ghana at heart, would rather spend time and energy they are using to run down a gold program they always tout to have initiated, to rather convince the small scale miners (themselves included allegedly) to sell gold to GoldBod at BOG price in the interest of Ghana they want Ghanaians to believe they have at heart.

Those individuals, faced with the challenge of possessing significant quantities of gold that they have allegedly hoarded in their homes and other private locations prior to January 7, 2025, and are reluctant to bring the gold to the GoldBod, an institution currently headed by Sammy Gyamfi, must come clean. Selling their gold to GoldBod though would require them to reveal the origins of their holdings, potentially exposing how they acquired such wealth, it is better than for GoldBod to soon discover the hidden gold that cannot be legitimately account for to cease being theirs.

Additionally, there are those who, in a last-minute effort, converted allegedly stolen dollars into gold for safekeeping. These individuals now find themselves in a precarious position as the Ghanaian cedi appreciates against the dollar, effectively reducing the value of their stored wealth by half. This situation is further complicated by the fact that, under John Mahama's prudent administration, GoldBod serves as the sole legal avenue for selling gold. Consequently, it is understandable that those holding gold must use this channel, making it difficult for them to conceal the source and nature of their assets.

Is Sammy targeted because of his incorruptible nature at GoldBod? A stance of Sammy Gyamfi they cannot stand, and as a result, hatching a determined agenda to get him removed for a replacement they can subdue?

Well, even if Sammy Gyamfi is to be removed today, which I do not foresee happening because of his understanding of the sector and brilliance in the arena of law, economics and public relations, what make them think president Mahama will not appoint the likes of Fiifi Kwetey or other no-nonsense NDC leaders to that position?

Well, once upon a time, on April 26, 2022, at the Labadi Beach Hotel, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah during the launch of a book authored by Hon. George Andah, a former deputy minister of information and former member of Parliament for Awutu Senya West under Nana Akuffo Addo' regime, read some rules George Andah has penned in his book, 'Determined to do more, The Mission is possible' relative to politics as he has come to know.

Hon. Kojo Nkrumah emphasized rule number four (4), which he read himself as, "In any political equation, there is always someone being used. If you look around and you cannot find that person, then it is you."

Can we then conclude that he is the one they are using at this time to blow things out of proportion, but he still is unable to recognize it?

In the same book and rule read by him is rule number six (6), which states that "serving a politician is like a bandage on a wound. Once the wound is healed, your usefulness ends."

Can we again ask whether he is the bandage or one of the bandages on the wounds inflicted on the NPP by Ghanaians during the 2024 elections? Or is he gradually becoming the bandage whose usefulness will soon end?

I do not want to believe he believes in rule seven (7), which states that, "in politics, in any event, if other interest conflicts with your interest, and you have to choose, always choose yours."

Is Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and the NPP ignoring the over $10 billion gained under a year in the interest of Ghana courtesy GoldBod and Bank of Ghana's pragmatism which may have incurred about 2% of cost in the process, and is being alleged to be a loss, just to choose he and his party NPP's interest over Ghana's interest?

If it is the case, the electorates must start taking notes to inflict a deeper wound in the political ambitions of those politicians whose interests have become parallel to the interest of Ghana, and pave way for more bandages to surface, as Hon. George Andah wisely authored.

I rest my PEN.
Mustapha Alhassan
Pennsylvania, USA.