Mahama Ayariga and Alexander Afenyo-Markin
A political disagreement emerged in Parliament on Tuesday over the financial implications of the government’s gold purchasing programme, with the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, demanding a detailed breakdown of reported Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) losses while Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga insists that the expenditure represents policy costs rather than losses.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin told the House that the government, through the Ghana Gold Board and the Bank of Ghana (BoG), had lost US$1.7 billion, equivalent to about GH¢22 billion at current exchange rates, and called for a parliamentary investigation into the matter.
He said the Minority had filed a motion on August 20, 2026, seeking the establishment of an ad hoc committee to investigate the matter and provide a detailed account of how the reported amount was lost.
According to him, the committee should have the power to summon documents and witnesses and establish how much of the reported US$1.7 billion was attributable to foreign exchange movements, gold purchase and selling prices, and decisions taken by officials.
“We want the disaggregation we are owed, not a summary, not a slogan,” Mr. Afenyo-Markin said.
He argued that the issue went beyond the size of the reported figure, warning that losses affecting the capital position of the Bank of Ghana could eventually leave taxpayers responsible for recapitalising the central bank.
However, Mr. Ayariga rejected the Minority’s characterisation of the reported losses, saying what the Minority described as losses were costs associated with a deliberate policy to support the economy.
He said the policy had helped stabilise the cedi, strengthen the currency and keep inflation at a relatively low level.
“What you call losses are actually costs that this country has to pay in order to maintain the strength of our currency today,” Mr. Ayariga said.
He argued that the expansion in the volume of gold purchased by the government accounted for part of the increase in the amount being described by the Minority as losses.
According to him, the policy had generated wider economic benefits, including currency stability, lower inflation and improved debt repayment capacity.
He therefore said the Majority stood firmly behind GoldBod and its management, as well as the Finance Minister and the government’s management of the country’s finances.
Mr. Ayariga further said the concerns raised by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) did not mean that the gold purchasing policy itself should be abandoned.
He explained that his understanding of the position of the international financial institutions was that losses arising from the structure of the programme should ultimately be borne by the government rather than the central bank.
He said reforms were already underway to shift the transactions from the BoG to the government, which, he argued, would address the concerns surrounding the arrangement.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin had earlier cited an IMF report dated December 17, 2025, which, he said, called for losses from the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme and GoldBod activities to be transparently brought onto the budget and for the BoG to develop a clear strategy for scaling down gold purchases.
He maintained that Parliament could not convene and remain silent over the reported figure, insisting that those responsible for implementing public policy must account to Ghanaians.
Mr. Ayariga, however, maintained that the policy was one of the measures that had contributed to the current economic conditions and questioned why the Minority continued to describe its costs as GoldBod losses.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament