Ghana's Gold Purchase Programme Origins and Nationalisation Capacity Questioned

Mining and energy expert Ing. Wisdom Gomashie says Ghana's Domestic Gold Purchasing Programme was launched in 2022 under the former administration of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, with companies such as Gold Fields selling gold to the Bank of Ghana in cedis. He argues that recent claims presenting the programme as a new initiative are political propaganda and warns that the government may use it to justify opaque takeovers of mining concessions. The programme, which aims to boost gold reserves and stabilise the cedi, has recently been expanded by the Ghana Gold Board to increase the share of gold sold by mining firms from 20% to 30%.

Economist Prof. Godfred Alufar Bokpin cautions that Ghana is not yet equipped to manage full-scale mineral nationalisation, lacking the capacity to handle the entire value chain from extraction to refining. His comments come as calls for broader resource nationalisation grow, highlighting concerns over the country's ability to benefit from such policies without sufficient institutional readiness.