Sixteen NDC Regional Chairmen declare support for GoldBod CEO Sammy Gyamfi

The sixteen Regional Chairmen of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have declared their full solidarity and support for the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi.

In a press statement issued on Thursday, August 28 and signed by the sixteen Regional Chairmen, the Caucus said the statement was on behalf of regional executives, constituency structures and the rank and file of the party across the country.

The statement, issued by the Secretary to the Caucus, Nana Dr Richard Asiedu, Central Regional Chairman, praised Sammy Gyamfi for transforming GoldBod from a policy idea into a fully functioning state institution within a year and a half.

It said the enabling legislation was passed, a Board and management constituted, licensing and traceability regimes introduced, assay and export systems established, and governance and accountability structures put in place within a timeframe few state institutions had matched.

According to the Chairmen, GoldBod today has audited annual accounts prepared by the Auditor-General and published for public scrutiny.

On economic impact, the statement said GoldBod's operations had contributed directly to the recovery of the economy, noting that gold that previously leaked through smuggling and opaque channels was now being traded, aggregated and exported through a transparent state mechanism.

It added that the foreign exchange earned had supported the stability of the cedi, strengthened reserves and given confidence to the market, with mining communities in the Western, Ashanti, Eastern, Central, Savannah and Upper regions experiencing fairness and transparency in the gold trade.

The Caucus expressed disappointment at what it described as a coordinated campaign by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its Minority in Parliament against Gyamfi and GoldBod, stating that while genuine parliamentary scrutiny was welcome, the current actions amounted to an attempt to smear a public officer and discredit an institution whose success exposed the failure of previous programmes.

It concluded that some in the NPP were uncomfortable that the economy was doing well without them, stressing that an attack on GoldBod was an attack on the good performance indicators the nation was witnessing.

The statement urged Sammy Gyamfi to remain focused and not be distracted, and to roll out every plan on GoldBod's agenda, including the expansion of licensed aggregation, the refining and value-addition programme, the traceability and responsible-sourcing framework, and the vision of positioning Ghana as a gold-trading hub for the sub-region.

It contrasted GoldBod with the Agyapa Royalties arrangement, which it said would have mortgaged a substantial share of future gold royalties to a special-purpose vehicle registered offshore, and was rejected by civil society, the Special Prosecutor and the people of Ghana. GoldBod, it said, keeps gold, its value and governance in Ghana under Ghanaian law and scrutiny.

The Chairmen reaffirmed their full confidence in Sammy Gyamfi and in the Board and management of GoldBod and called on party members, supporters and well-meaning Ghanaians to disregard the campaign of misinformation and to stand with an institution and a CEO working for Ghana.

The statement was signed by all sixteen Regional Chairmen.