By Iddi Yire
Accra, Aug. 19, GNA – Mr Sammy Gyamfi, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), has rejected claims by Mr Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, the Minority Leader in Parliament, that GoldBod recorded losses in its 2025 gold trading operations.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series Press Conference at the Presidency in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Gyamfi said the Auditor-General’s audited annual report and financial statements of GoldBod for the year ended December 31, 2025, showed that the institution recorded an operational surplus of GH¢907 million and an overall profit of more than GH¢5.4 billion.
“This is an incontrovertible fact,” Mr Gyamfi stated.
Mr Gyamfi’s comments followed claims made by Mr Afenyo-Markin at a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday, August 18, where he cited an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report and alleged that the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP), implemented through GoldBod, recorded losses exceeding US$1.7 billion in 2025.
Mr Gyamfi said allegations that GoldBod had made losses in its 2025 operations had previously been raised in Parliament and in the media, but maintained that the Auditor-General’s findings disproved those assertions.
According to him, attempts to suggest that the Auditor-General lacked access to the full details of GoldBod’s operations demonstrated either a misunderstanding of the audit process or an effort to undermine an independent state institution.
He said officials of the Auditor-General were granted unrestricted access to all information required for the audit and that all requests and audit queries were adequately addressed by GoldBod management.
He reiterated that that claim was simply a barefaced lie, which had been debunked time and again by the GoldBod.
He said unsurprisingly, Mr Afenyo-Markin and his followers had consciously chosen to disregard the Auditor-General’s confirmation that the GoldBod did not record an operational loss.
“They now claim that the Auditor-General did not have access to the full picture concerning the operations of the GoldBod,” he stated.
“That position betrays either a crass lack of understanding of how an external audit is conducted or a deliberate determination to undermine yet another independent state institution when its findings do not suit their mischievous narratives.”
Mr Gyamfi urged the media to check the veracity of the claim with the Auditor-General, and that they would come to the conclusion that officials of the Auditor-General were given unhindered access to all relevant information in the conduct of their audit of the 2025 financials of the GoldBod.
He said all documents requested by them were supplied and all queries raised by them in their Management Letter were satisfactorily answered by the Management of the GoldBod.
“This is why not a single adverse audit finding was made by the Auditor-General in its 2025 audited report on the GoldBod.”
He said the media must not condone or entertain the continuous propagation of lies in the face of glaring evidence to the contrary.
Mr Gyamfi further argued that critics had shifted their position from alleging that GoldBod made losses to claiming that GoldBod was responsible for losses incurred by the Bank of Ghana under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP).
He maintained that the IMF report did not accuse GoldBod of causing the losses recorded under the programme.
“I challenge Afenyo-Markin to point to any page, paragraph, sentence or phrase in the under-referenced reports of the IMF, where the GoldBod was accused as the entity responsible for losses incurred by the Bank of Ghana under the DGPP,” Mr Gyamfi said.
Mr Gyamfi noted that the IMF report indicated that the Bank of Ghana incurred losses of approximately US$400 million in 2024 and US$1.7 billion in 2025 under the DGPP and attributed the higher 2025 figure partly to the expansion of the programme and valuation effects.
He explained that the report cited fees paid to GoldBod as one of the components considered in the accounting calculations but did not hold GoldBod responsible for the losses.
Mr Gyamfi said GoldBod’s defence of its 2025 financial performance should not be interpreted as an attempt to transfer responsibility for the DGPP losses to the Bank of Ghana.
He urged the media and the public to demand evidence from individuals making allegations against GoldBod and insisted that criticisms of the institution were part of a campaign to undermine its contribution to the Government’s economic agenda.
“Let me state that the persistent noise from people like him does not arise from any genuine quest for accountability or any sincere desire to interrogate the operations of the GoldBod,” Mr Gyamfi said.
“Rather, it is part of a calculated smear campaign aimed at undermining the significant contribution that the GoldBod is making to the economic transformation agenda of President Mahama’s administration.”
The GoldBod Chief Executive said the institution was prepared to appear before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament or any other parliamentary committee to discuss its operational and financial performance.
“Let no one seek to obfuscate this important challenge by roping in the Bank of Ghana. Mr Afenyo-Markin, you claim the GoldBod has made losses. You also claim that the GoldBod is responsible for the losses of the Bank of Ghana, we are waiting for your invitation to appear before Parliament for you to substantiate these claims,” Mr Gyamfi said.
He noted that the GoldBod would remain focused on its mandate.
“We will continue to account transparently for our stewardship. And we will not be distracted from the important work of creating value for the Ghanaian people from the exploitation of the gold resources of our beloved nation,” Mr Gyamfi stated.
GNA
Edited by Lydia Kukua Asamoah