Who told you that the Gold Board and the Bank of Ghana have not caused financial loss to the state?

It is quite disappointing that after nearly seventy years of independence, Ghana continues to lag behind the rest of the pack in terms of the socio-economic advancement.

My dear reader, tell me, isn’t it somewhat pathetic that of all the superfluous natural resources, we still have to rely on loans for survival?

I do not want to be seen as a pathetic doomsayer, far from it. But so long as we continue to rely on the dreadful economic managers (like those who can recklessly throw away a staggering GH22billion on gold trading) to take charge of affairs, I’m afraid, Ghana may not see any meaningful development in our lifetime.

It is rather unfortunate that in the name of gold trading, some people can facilely throw away a massive GH22billion, which could have completed the all-important Accra to Kumasi road, a number of Agenda 111 hospitals would have benefited, and some unemployed Nurses and Teachers would have found themselves in the public service.

After ridiculously throwing away such a huge amount, we then turn around and go for meagre loans to finance our projects. How pathetic?

I cannot for the life of me, get my head around how and why any critical thinker, worth his salt, would argue somewhat inanely and impetuously that the staggering GH22billion losses incurred on the trading activities of the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme administered by the Central Bank of Ghana and President Mahama’s brainchild, the Gold Board, do not amount to financial loss to the state.

Upon watching and listening to the so-called analysts, unpardonably exonerating the Gold Board of any blame and preposterously dismissing the genuine concerns of the sceptics of the Gold Board, I arrived at a sad conclusion that either Ghanaian politics is destitute of honesty and integrity or critical thinking.

All the same, I, for one, cannot help but to applaud the unwearied critics of the Gold Board for applying their exceptional critical assessment skills and unmatched intuition to dissect the issue at hand.

‘Critical assessment involves analysing and evaluating information, ideas, or concepts with a questioning attitude to determine their validity and relevance ‘.

My dear reader, tell me, how , in the name of the Almighty God, should any objective analyst conclude erroneously that the buyer of exorbitant cassava and plantain, meant for onward sale at 24-hour market, is not partly to be blamed for any losses?

On the preponderance of probability, the losses could well have occurred from the high cost of buying the cassava and plantain for onward sale.

Some of us, to be quite honest, share in the sentiments of the Alliance For Accountable Governance(AFAG) over the huge and somewhat extraneous expenses of the Gold Board, and therefore rightly calling for the urgent forensic audit of the Board’s 2025 financial accounts.

More recently, the AFAG reported that the Gold Bod’s 2025 financial disclosures show total expenditure of GH¢78.68 million, with several expenditure items involving multi-million-cedi allocations’.

Some of the staggering expenditures AFAG raised concern about include ‘GH¢14.29 million spent on task force deployment, GH¢3.98 million on entertainment and events, GH¢3.39 million on travelling costs, over GH8 million on legal fees, and GH¢5.26 million on special intervention programme expenses’ (Citi newsroom, 27/08/2026).

Since regaining the independence from the British on 6^th March 1957, Ghana has, regrettably, been losing billions of cedis to some irresponsible and rapacious public servants through sheer carelessness and cloudy deals.

Unfortunately, the unpatriotic and selfish attitudes of some men and women we often put in responsible positions have cost this nation dearly.

Regrettably, the vast majority of our public servants are remorseless spendthrifts. If that were not the case, how come they have wilfully wasted our resources and continue to spend profligately to the detriment of the poor Ghanaians?

My dear reader, just take a look at our political landscape and you would agree with me that some of our politicians harbour vested interests and have no empathy whatsoever.

Some of us, as a matter of solicitude and unwavering affection for our nation, cannot help but to support the pertinent calls by the AFAG for the powers that be to scrutinise the Gold Board’s behemoth expenditures.

In the grand scheme of things, we can rightly infer somewhat dispassionately that it was a troubling marriage between the Central Bank of Ghana and the Gold Board.

We can, therefore, conclude without mincing words that the humongous $1.7billion losses, were, in fact, resulted from the marriage between the Central Bank of Ghana and the Gold Board.

In hindsight, the two aforementioned entities happily entered into trading(buy and sell) agreement.

The Central Bank of Ghana gave the Gold Board a staggering $11.7billion(GH133billion) with the sole aim of purchasing gold on its behalf.

It is, therefore, worth stressing that the Gold Board was doing the buying and the Central Bank of Ghana was doing the selling of the gold.

We were, in fact, made to believe that the trading losses were arose from service charges, discounts, the high cost of buying the gold, among others.

According to the International Monetary Fund(IMF), the gold purchased by the Gold Board was the most expensive in the sub-region.

Needless to say, the Central Bank of Ghana and the Gold Board were buying and selling, and therefore by purchasing expensive gold from the small scale miners, it was always going to be somewhat insurmountable for the Central Bank of Ghana to retain the initial capital, let alone make profit

Evidently, therefore, the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme administered by the aforesaid entities was full of problems and loopholes susceptible to serious exploitation.

My dear reader, let me crave your indulgence just a moment longer and pose: where on planet earth do serious, committed, and forward-thinking traders deliberately buy exorbitant products and sell on low prices, and expect to retain their capital, let alone make profit?

We should not lose sight of the fact that trading is not reducible to the selling role played by the Central Bank of Ghana, it includes the buying role carried out by the Gold Board.

It is against this backdrop that some of us are in acquiescence with the sceptics for arguing aptly that the losses are partly due to the high cost of purchasing the gold from the small scale miners.

In any case, we cannot ignore or deny the fact that Ghana has lost a huge GH22billion, which could have completed the all-important Accra to Kumasi road, a number of Agenda 111 hospitals would have benefited, and some unemployed Nurses and Teachers would have found themselves in the public service.

Therefore, the good people of Ghana do not want to hear any unnecessary high sounding phrases from any quarters, rather, Ghanaians need to know the people who have carelessly caused the gargantuan financial loss to the state, and if possible, be brought to book.

K. Badu, UK.
[email protected]