Gold Board Act Amendment efforts are underway as the Minority in Parliament prepares to introduce a Private Members’ Bill to reform the operations of the Ghana Gold Board.

The move follows concerns over inefficiencies and financial losses associated with the Board’s current structure.

Speaking to the press, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, Ranking Member of Parliament’s Economic and Development Committee, alleged that existing practices are resulting in significant revenue leakages.

“As the leader was mentioning, the government is now admitting that for every $10 million that the Bank of Ghana releases to Gold Board to go and buy gold for them 15% of it doesn’t come back, it goes into all sorts of charges, handling charges, bonus and other things,” he stated.

He argued that the Gold Board Act Amendment is necessary to address what he described as structural flaws within the system.

“So there are a number of things that are in our view very wrong with the current structure… if it is possible for us to come by Private Members’ Bill to get amendment we will explore that,” he added.

Oppong-Nkrumah further criticised the blending of regulatory and commercial roles within the Board, warning that it creates inefficiencies and unintended financial burdens.

“Don’t mix the role of the regulator to the role of the trader because if you do you may end up funding regulatory functions in ways that you shouldn’t,” he said.

He also raised concerns over government incentives aimed at curbing gold smuggling, noting that such measures could be counterproductive.

“Now the government is having to as part of regulatory functions pay a bonus to the gold dealers so that they don’t smuggle the gold… but if you are going to pay a bonus to discourage people from smuggling, you are going to lose money,” he stated.

According to him, the Minority had previously предложed reforms based on their experience with the programme, but those recommendations were not adopted.

The proposed Gold Board Act Amendment is expected to trigger broader debate in Parliament over the structure and efficiency of Ghana’s gold trading and regulatory framework.

Oppong-Nkrumah warned that if immediate reforms are not undertaken, more extensive changes will be pursued when the New Patriotic Party returns to power.