Afenyo-Markin's claims on DGPP lacked facts and common sense — Sammy Gyamfi
Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has criticised Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin over his claims about GoldBod's operations, describing them as “bereft of facts and common sense.”
The comments follow claims by the Minority in Parliament that GoldBod should account for losses associated with gold trading operations rather than taking credit for foreign exchange gains while distancing itself from losses from the same transactions.
The dispute follows an August report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which indicated that the Bank of Ghana's Domestic Gold Purchase Programme recorded losses of more than US$1.7 billion in 2025, equivalent to about 1.5% of Ghana's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Speaking during the government's Accountability Series on Wednesday, August 19, Mr Gyamfi said GoldBod served only as a buying agent for the Bank of Ghana and had no role in the subsequent sale of gold under the programme.
“…The new false narrative of Afenyo-Markin and his followers that the Gold Board is to blame for losses incurred by the Bank of Ghana under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme is bereft of facts and common sense,” he said.
Mr Gyamfi explained that GoldBod's role in the programme in 2025 was inherited from the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), which had entered into a Gold Purchase Agreement with the Bank of Ghana in September 2023.
He said the agreement designated PMMC as a buying agent for the central bank, with responsibility for purchasing and aggregating gold for the Bank of Ghana under agreed terms.
According to Mr Gyamfi, PMMC, which later became GoldBod, fulfilled its obligations and fully accounted for all funds advanced to it for gold purchases.
He said about GH¢133 billion was advanced to PMMC and subsequently GoldBod in 2025 to purchase gold, and the funds were fully accounted for.
Mr Gyamfi stressed that GoldBod had no involvement in the subsequent sale of the gold purchased for the Bank of Ghana.
“The PMMC and GoldBod had no role in the sale of gold by the Bank of Ghana under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme. It was not a signatory to any off-take agreements under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, nor was it involved in determining selling prices or sale terms,” he said.
He argued that losses from the sale of gold could therefore not be attributed to GoldBod because the institution had no responsibility for the selling price or terms.
“In commodity trading, profit is simply a function of selling price minus cost,” he said.
Mr Gyamfi said the IMF report attributed the reported losses to gold sales by the Bank of Ghana rather than purchases made by PMMC or GoldBod.
He also questioned the Minority's argument by pointing to losses recorded under the programme in 2024, when GoldBod had not yet been established.
“The IMF report says that the Bank of Ghana incurred a loss of $400 million from gold sales under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme in the year 2024. Ladies and gentlemen, there was no GoldBod in the year 2024,” he said.
He noted that the Bank of Ghana used PMMC and a private company, Resafire, as buying and aggregation agents in 2024.
“If we are to accept this argument that losses under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme are attributable to buying agents, then, as Afenyo-Markin is saying, that buying agents in 2024 caused the loss of $400 million. And those buying agents were the PMMC and a private company called Resafire,” he said.
Mr Gyamfi questioned why the Minority was not similarly attributing the 2024 losses to PMMC and Resafire.
He added that the Bank of Ghana also engaged Resafire as a private aggregator to purchase and aggregate gold under the programme in 2025.
—citinewsroom