Former Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has made some serious allegations against the current administration, accusing them of setting up the Ghana Gold Board (GOLDBOD) as a way to misappropriate public funds.
Specifically, he’s taking issue with the allocation of GH₵270 million to GOLDBOD, which he believes is not only unjustified but also a deliberate attempt to divert Ghana’s gold resources to benefit a select few within the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) party.
Dr. Amin Adam’s concerns were triggered by the current Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson’s announcement on March 11, regarding a budgetary allocation to support GOLDBOD.
The former Finance Minister argues that previous gold purchasing programs, like the Gold-for-Oil policy, didn’t rely on direct government funding. Instead, they used a revolving fund managed by the Bank of Ghana, which ensured taxpayer money wasn’t directly involved.
Dr. Amin Adam emphasizes that shifting the financial burden of GOLDBOD onto taxpayers could have severe economic repercussions, undermining the sustainability of Ghana’s natural resource management. He believes that the government should find alternative solutions to fund GOLDBOD, rather than relying on taxpayer money.
“We have never funded the gold purchase programme or gold-for-oil programme from the budget. It never happened and so to fund the GOLDBOD from the budget, in our view, is just to put in money to be benefited by NDC cronies. It is to create, loot and share.
“The Bank of Ghana was funding the gold purchase programme from a revolving fund and therefore it did not affect the taxpayer. Now you have a GOLDBOD which is going to rely on the taxpayer and we think that this creates loot and share and we will resist it.” He said.
Baina Multimedia/ Khadijahtu Kubura Kailani.
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