Accra, Ghana//-Listening to the Managing Director of PMMC Sammy Gyamfi on Newsfile on the Goldbod explanations, it is becoming increasingly clear that either the misconceptions and brouhaha behind this Goldbod thing are deliberate or self-inflicted. The issues are very simple and direct!
Is it true that foreigners dominate Ghana’s precious minerals trading market? The answer is yes!!
Is it true that most of these foreigners do not comply with the 80% repatriation threshold set up by the government on every gold they export? The answer is yes!!
Last week I also found out that apart from the commodity traders who abuse this system put in place by the government to track in flow of forex back to the economy, most of the foreign businessmen in Ghana especially the foreign car dealerships, the Lebanese and Indian retail outlets and fast food chain owners who makes tremendous amount of money in Ghana have a found an unscrupulous way of buying gold in large quantities with their revenue instead of banking it and paying the necessary taxes and charges.
They buy the gold with their sales revenue and export the gold and the proceeds never return to the economy.
Therefore streamlining of the commodity trading market and giving the government the monopoly of trading, assaying and exporting would not only optimize the revenue potential of the trade but also curb unscrupulous capital flight, tax evasion and the timely and efficient repatriation of the forex to boost our local currency.
Now it is important to commend the PMMC and the promoters of Goldbod for opening up the process and engaging all key stakeholders. We would urge them to continue to provide adequate information, especially on the operationalization of the Goldbod, the process of selecting and licensing accredited buyers, prompt accountability and continuous engagement with stakeholders even after the promulgation of the bill to eliminate needless propaganda already being peddled by detractors.
Finally, Goldbod must address issues of the mechanism for disbursement of capital to licensed buyers, inflationary issues associated with capital, volatility of commodity prices and how that would be mitigated to avoid needless losses but most importantly sustainability.
How is the Goldbod addressing the issues of sustainability, not just with management and operations but environmental sustainability.
How does the bill address the impact of the policy on the environment?
How is the ESG incorporated into the mechanism for licensing buyers?
Would gold pay a blind eye to gold extracted through extreme pollution, poor disposal of mining waste, destruction of water bodies and even degrading of forest reserves?
How is Goldbod ensuring that it doesn’t become an ultimate promoter of Galamsey a problem the government is already grappling with?
And finally, finally, what happens to multinational large-scale mining companies who already have off-taker agreements with their buyers?
How do they feed in the plan of the Goldbod? Will they be left off the hook?
Why will multinational mining companies be allowed to export their gold and individual Ghanaians cannot export their own gold?
Isn’t it time to relook at some of the concession agreements with some of these mining companies to ensure equality and uniformity?
Fun fact, foreigners engaged in Cocoa farming in Ghana cannot export their cocoa independently of Cocobod!!
Goldbod must be proactive enough to efficiently address these gaps, Good initiative let’s support them to make Ghana reap the optimum potential from its natural resources.
By Mensah Thompson, Executive Director, ASEPA
