“Invite me to Parliament”- Sammy Gyamfi challenges Afenyo-Markin over GoldBod loss claims

Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has challenged Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin to invite him to Parliament to substantiate claims that GoldBod is responsible for losses recorded by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.

Mr Gyamfi said he was ready to appear before Parliament and provide evidence to support GoldBod’s position that it did not cause the reported losses.

Speaking at the Government Accountability Series, he said there was no need for prolonged public exchanges when Parliament had mechanisms to summon officials and examine the matter.

“I’m waiting with bated breath for Afenyo-Markin’s invitation,” Mr Gyamfi said.

He added that the Minority Leader could ask the Public Accounts Committee to invite him to appear before the committee.

“I will appear. You don’t need any special motion. You don’t need any special order by the Speaker. Just get the Public Accounts Committee to invite us and come and sit down there, and come and demonstrate to the whole nation where GoldBod made losses, or how GoldBod is to blame for losses made by another institution,” he said.

GoldBod rejects responsibility for BoG losses

Mr Gyamfi maintained that GoldBod did not cause the losses reported by BoG under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.

According to him, the programme and its operating framework predated GoldBod’s establishment in April 2025.

He argued that BoG had previously worked with other buying agents, including PMMC and private aggregator Resafire, to purchase and aggregate gold under the programme.

He therefore questioned the basis for attributing the 2025 losses to GoldBod simply because the institution served as a buying agent during part of that year.

Mr Gyamfi further stated that GoldBod’s own trade model did not commence until March 2026, after the institution received its revolving seed capital and put the required systems and institutional structures in place.

Fees and losses

The GoldBod CEO also dismissed claims that fees paid to GoldBod contributed significantly to BoG’s reported losses.

He said GoldBod received an assay fee of 0.258% and a service fee of 0.5%, adding that the fees together represented less than one percent of the 17% loss reported by the IMF.

He explained that the fees covered legitimate services, including gold assaying, logistics, transportation, security, insurance and other operational costs associated with gold aggregation.

Mr Gyamfi said similar fees had been paid to other buying agents under BoG’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme before GoldBod was established.

Policy design

He further argued that the losses under the programme were largely a consequence of its policy design rather than incompetence or mismanagement by GoldBod.

According to Mr Gyamfi, the previous administration designed the programme primarily to accumulate foreign exchange at a time when Ghana faced challenges accessing international capital markets.

He said the IMF had also attributed a significant portion of the reported 2025 losses to the difference between the forex bureau rate used to purchase gold and BoG’s reference exchange rate used for accounting purposes.

Ready for scrutiny

Mr Gyamfi said GoldBod had nothing to fear from parliamentary scrutiny and welcomed an opportunity to have the allegations examined publicly.

He urged critics to provide evidence showing how GoldBod, as a buying agent, caused losses recorded on the books of a separate institution.

The GoldBod CEO also accused Mr Afenyo-Markin and his associates of conducting what he described as a “desperate smear campaign” against the institution.

He said GoldBod would remain focused on its mandate and continue to account for its stewardship while allowing Parliament and other appropriate institutions to scrutinise its operations.

“Just get the Public Accounts Committee to invite us,” Mr Gyamfi reiterated, “and come and demonstrate to the whole nation where GoldBod made losses, or how GoldBod is to blame for losses made by another institution.”