President John Dramani Mahama has commissioned a dedicated taskforce to support the operations of GoldBod across the country.
This development follows the passage of new legislation by Parliament to establish GoldBod as the central gold marketing entity in the country, mandated to purchase gold mined across Ghana’s artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector.
Speaking at the outdooring ceremony of the taskforce at the National Security Secretariat in Accra on July 8, President Mahama stated that the overarching aim of the government, through GoldBod, is to streamline revenues accruing to the state from gold production and to empower local businessmen to have a significant stake in the country’s mineral resources sector.
“The GoldBod, under the new arrangement, is helping the state plug the loopholes in the gold industry where, in the past, private individuals and some officials failed to accurately report the volumes of gold produced in the country before it was shipped abroad to generate foreign exchange for the economy.
In the brief period since we enacted the legal framework to entrench the entity’s mandate, the state has generated over GH¢5 billion in cash receipts for the government — a game-changer for the industry.
The taskforce is one of the many operational support measures that my administration is implementing to enhance the administrative efficiency of the regulator and to ensure accountability and order in the gold mining industry.”
In a related development, the Chief Executive Officer of GoldBod, Sammy Gyamfi, stated that the rebranding of the former Precious Minerals Marketing Company into the new regulator is intended to empower the entity to restore integrity to the gold industry and to generate decent incomes for indigenous firms.
“The early days of the Ghana GoldBod hold a lot of promise in helping to fulfill the Mahama-led administration’s vision to maximize returns from our God-given natural resources for the benefit of the entire population and to support inclusive economic development.
The outdooring of the taskforce today by the President marks a strong commitment by the state to protect its commercial interests in the gold industry.
The GoldBod headquarters features a 24-hour monitoring room that tracks the movement and activities of officers deployed across the mining regions. Their mandate is to monitor the buying and trading of gold in these areas and to ensure there is no collusion between our officials and the companies directly engaged in the industry.
Henceforth, the laws will be applied strictly, and anyone found to be in breach of the state’s regulations regarding gold-related economic transactions must be prepared to face the full rigours of Ghana’s laws without fear or favour.”
GoldBod is the newly established body regulating the buying and selling of gold, primarily in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector, following the passage of a new Act of Parliament. This Act rendered the erstwhile Precious Minerals Marketing Company redundant as part of government efforts to address longstanding loopholes in gold revenue collection.
The nationwide taskforce is composed of personnel from the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Armed Forces, and operatives from the National Security Council Secretariat.
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Story by Sika Togoh | univers.ug.edu.gh
