Listowel Nana Poku of the Good Governance Advocacy Group Ghana has strongly commended Sammy Gyamfi for what he describes as an impressive performance in managing Ghana’s gold business, despite having no previous experience in the gold trade.
He said he was particularly surprised by the manner in which Sammy Gyamfi had taken up what he described as the legacy of Ghana’s gold business and demonstrated a high level of intelligence and understanding of the sector.
“I want to be emphatic about this: the way Sammy Gyamfi demonstrated his intelligence has really surprised me. I have admitted the fact that every graduate is capable of bringing reforms. What surprises me is that Sammy has not done gold business before; he has not sold gold before, but his performance has been extremely good,” he said.
Listowel Nana Poku said he watched the discussions carefully on television in order to understand the issues surrounding Ghana’s gold trade, and commended the organisers as well as the media for asking what he described as intelligent and constructive questions.
According to him, Ghana has been selling gold for about 60 years, yet the country has struggled to derive the maximum economic benefit from its gold resources.
He said President John Dramani Mahama recognised the importance of value addition and therefore sought to introduce mechanisms that would enable Ghana to retain more value from its natural resources.
He explained that this thinking informed the establishment of GoldBod, which he compared to the regulation of the cocoa sector in Ghana.
“President Mahama told Ghanaians that value addition is very important and that we must add value to everything we produce in Ghana. That is why he thought about establishing what we call GoldBod, just as cocoa is regulated in Ghana,” he said.
Listowel Nana Poku said President Mahama had consistently envisioned a system through which Ghana could make greater economic returns from its gold resources.
He expressed surprise at Sammy Gyamfi’s assertion that GoldBod had generated billions of dollars in profit, arguing that such figures demonstrated the potential of properly managing Ghana’s gold trade.
He also said the NDC’s commitment to probity and accountability meant that government officials should be prepared to answer constructive questions from Ghanaians.
However, he criticised what he described as politically motivated questions and threats against government officials.
According to him, simply suggesting that Sammy Gyamfi would be jailed does not demonstrate intelligence or constructive political engagement.
He said Sammy Gyamfi’s response during the discussion deserved commendation because he explained the issues in a manner that allowed the public to better understand the operations of GoldBod.
Listowel Nana Poku further argued that any losses associated with gold transactions should not automatically be attributed to GoldBod, insisting that the institution does not sell gold in the manner being suggested by some critics.
He contrasted the current GoldBod arrangement with the approach adopted under the previous administration, arguing that the former Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) did not achieve the same level of economic returns that he believes GoldBod is currently generating.
He questioned whether PMMC under the previous New Patriotic Party administration was able to generate comparable profits within a similar period.
He further praised President Mahama and his appointees for what he described as a stronger understanding of Ghana’s economic challenges and the need to use the country’s natural resources to support economic stability.
According to him, the management of gold has also played an important role in efforts to stabilise the Ghanaian cedi and support the wider economy.
He specifically mentioned the efforts of Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, saying the government had been determined to strengthen the cedi through increased exports and improved foreign-exchange inflows.
He argued that the economic environment under the previous administration had made international trade more expensive, citing the amount of foreign currency businesses needed for transactions with countries such as China.
Listowel Nana Poku maintained that Ghana’s natural resources should be used to reduce the economic hardship facing ordinary citizens.
He said revenues associated with GoldBod were being channelled into economic interventions and development programmes, including the government’s Big Push infrastructure initiative.
He therefore urged Ghanaians to look beyond partisan politics and critically examine policies based on their economic impact.
He said if the country has been blessed with natural resources such as gold, the priority should be to ensure that Ghanaians benefit meaningfully from them rather than continuing to export raw resources without capturing sufficient value.
Story by Stephen Kwaku Owusu Mintah, Ahotoronline, Accra.