Former Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has accused the ruling administration of establishing the Ghana Gold Board (GOLDBOD) as a conduit for misappropriating public funds.

According to Dr. Amin Adam, the allocation of GH?270 million to GOLDBOD is not only untenable but also a deliberate attempt to divert Ghana’s gold resources for the benefit of a select few within the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) party.

Dr. Amin Adam’s remarks follow the announcement made by the current Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, on Tuesday, March 11, regarding a budgetary allocation to support the yet-to-be-launched GOLD-BOD.

The former Finance Minister argued that previous gold purchasing programmes, such as the Gold-for-Oil policy, were executed without direct government budgetary support. Instead, these programmes relied on a revolving fund managed by the Bank of Ghana, ensuring that taxpayer money was not directly involved.

He further emphasised that shifting the financial burden of GOLDBOD onto taxpayers could have serious economic repercussions, arguing that such an approach undermines the sustainability of Ghana’s natural resource management.

“We have never funded the gold purchase programme or gold-for-oil programme from the budget. It never happened and so to fund the GOLDBOD from the budget, in our view, is just to put in money to be benefited by NDC cronies. It is to create, loot and share.

“The Bank of Ghana was funding the gold purchase programme from a revolving fund and therefore it did not affect the taxpayer. Now you have a GOLDBOD which is going to rely on the taxpayer and we think that this creates loot and share and we will resist it.”