The Majority Leader, James Agalga, has backed a bipartisan parliamentary investigation into alleged losses linked to the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP), but says the inquiry must also examine gold purchases made under the previous administration.
Mr Agalga said extending the investigation would help establish whether the reported losses were genuine financial losses or operational expenditure incurred while running the programme.
He said a wider inquiry was needed because of conflicting claims about the financial performance of the scheme.
“Once again, this is a matter that we are equally very interested in, because there have been contradictory claims,” he told Parliament.
Mr Agalga was responding to the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, after the presentation of the Business Statement in Parliament last Friday. Mr Afenyo-Markin had urged the House to revive a pending motion calling for bipartisan investigations into GoldBod and the Bank of Ghana’s gold trading operations covering 2025.
Minority demands answers over conflicting figures
Mr Afenyo-Markin said Ghanaians were entitled to a full explanation of the programme’s financial results.
His concerns centred on the fact that GoldBod had reported a surplus from its gold-purchasing activities, while the Bank of Ghana had recorded substantial losses arising from the same programme.
He said the apparent discrepancy raised questions about how the transactions had been managed and accounted for, as well as which institutions or individuals were responsible for the financial outcomes.
“Ghanaians are entitled to know where the losses sit. Who authorised the transaction and who will answer for them?” he asked.
Mr Agalga said the Majority held a different interpretation of the reported figures, maintaining that GoldBod had recorded operational losses rather than actual financial losses. He said that position was supported by the Auditor-General’s report.
“Our views are reinforced by the Auditor-General’s report and so if they want such a motion to be taken, we are ready,” he said.
However, he insisted that the proposed inquiry should cover the gold-purchasing activities carried out while the previous administration was in office. He also questioned whether similar operational costs incurred at that time had been classified and reported as losses.
“But once again, we shall insist that the scope of that motion is broadened so that at the time we engaged in gold purchases, even when they were in power, we would be looking into it so that we would see or we would try to understand whether the so-called losses are operational expenditure or they are real losses,” he said.
Mr Agalga said a comprehensive investigation would resolve the competing claims and clarify the financial implications of the gold-purchasing operations.
“We shall look into that motion too so that those matters are brought to rest once and for all,” he told the House.
Passport director’s interdiction
The Leader of Government Business also said Parliament could invite the Foreign Affairs Minister to brief it on investigations involving the interdicted Director of Passports, Mr Alhassan Mahama.
He said the interdiction had been intended to allow the investigations to proceed and that the minister was prepared to appear before the appropriate parliamentary committee with an update.
Mr Afenyo-Markin had earlier called for the Foreign Affairs Minister to appear before Parliament and explain the circumstances surrounding Mr Mahama’s interdiction.
He said the issue was of significant public interest and that the minister should account to Parliament rather than deal with it solely through his executive responsibilities.
