Alleged $1.7bn GoldBod losses: Bawumia backs Minority’s push for accountability

Former Vice President and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has urged Minority Leader Osahen Alexander Afenyo-Markin to remain focused on the reported $1.7 billion losses associated with the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.

According to Osahen Afenyo-Markin, Dr Bawumia gave the advice during a meeting at his private residence in Accra on Monday, August 24, as Parliament prepared to reconvene for an emergency sitting.

The meeting also focused on matters within the NPP and the agenda of the Minority Caucus in the lead up to the resumption of the House.

“He urged me to remain focused on the loss of over $1.7 billion, equivalent to 1.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), arising from the operations of GoldBod and the Bank of Ghana under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme,” Afenyo-Markin wrote in a social media post.

Osahen Afenyo-Markin said Dr Bawumia also expressed confidence in his leadership of the Minority and commended the caucus for its efforts to demand accountability over the reported losses.

He said the NPP flagbearer had urged the Minority to use the rules and procedures of Parliament to hold the government accountable for the reported financial loss.

According to the Effutu lawmaker, he assured Dr Bawumia that the matter remains firmly on the Minority’s agenda once Parliament resumes.

“This is a national task the Minority intends to prosecute to the fullest extent of our ability, with the very best of intentions, and minded always by the interests of the Ghanaian people,” he said.

Osahen Afenyo-Markin said the Minority would continue pursuing the matter until Ghanaians received what he described as the answers they deserved.