The Minority says it may consider filing a Private Member’s Bill to amend the Ghana Gold Board Act, citing inefficiencies in its current operations.
The caucus claims that under the existing arrangement, every 10 million dollars released by the Bank of Ghana to the Gold Board for gold purchases results in an estimated 15 percent loss.
It also noted that the government is compelled to pay bonuses to gold dealers to curb smuggling.
Speaking during an engagement with the Ghana Employers Association on March 31, the Ranking on the Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, indicated that the next NPP government would undertake broader reforms of the Gold Board if the proposed amendment fails to address the challenges.
“The minority offered a lot of suggestions that listen, this program we started it, we know the loopholes, we know the gaps. For example, don’t mix the role of the regulator with the role of the trader. Because if you do, you may end up funding regulatory functions in ways that you shouldn’t,”he said
Mr Nkrumah added that, “We also offered various suggestions, including the definition of what they called hoarding, part of which affects, you know, jewelers. Some of those bits of advice were listened to, but in the end, a good chunk of it was literally all thrown away. And that is how come you are left with this one.”
“So now the government is having to, as part of regulatory functions, pay a bonus to the gold dealers, so that they don’t smuggle the gold. But if you are going to have to pay a bonus to discourage people from smuggling, you’re going to lose money. And that’s how come, as Leader was mentioning, the government is now admitting that for every $10 million that the Bank of Ghana releases to Gold Board to go and buy gold for them, 15% of it doesn’t come back. It goes into all sorts of charges, handling charges, assaying charges, bonus and other things. So there are a number of things that are, in our view, very wrong with the current structure,” he explained.
The Ofoase Ayirebi law maker noted that, “We have proferred some views already. Those views have not been taken. We are happy to take your input, even as at now. And if it is possible for us to come by a private member’s bill to get amendments, we’ll explore that. If we cannot do it by a private member’s bill and we have to wait for the next NPP administration to make those corrections, then we’ll make those corrections.
But what we can assure you is that this exercise, which was started on the watch of the NPP, we learned a lot of lessons from it. We are seeing the mistakes that are being made. And at the next opportune moment, we will do our best to make sure that those corrections are done, to serve the interest of, particularly private sector operators (1:57) like GLS and others in the value chain.”
Source:Fiilafmonline/3News
