Afenyo-Markin says GoldBod’s structure encourages illegal mining
The Minority Leader argues that gold-buying arrangements fail to adequately distinguish legally mined gold from galamsey gold, warning of consequences for Ghana’s forests and water supplies.
Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has accused the Ghana Gold Board, known as GoldBod, of operating a structure that encourages illegal mining, arguing that it does not adequately distinguish legally mined gold from gold obtained through galamsey.
Speaking during an engagement with the Christian Council, he called for stronger oversight of gold trading and aggregation to ensure that efforts to formalise the sector do not undermine the fight against illegal mining.
His criticism centred on the rules governing gold supplied by aggregators. He questioned whether sufficient safeguards existed to establish where that gold had been mined before it was purchased.
“The way GoldBod has been structured, it is rather encouraging the illegal mining activities we have in our country,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin argued that the current arrangements risked providing a market for gold without adequately distinguishing its source.
“Currently GoldBod does not have a regulation that draws a distinction between regularly mined gold and galamsey gold,” he said.
That assertion is his assessment of the regulatory framework. The material supplied for this report does not include the relevant regulations or a response from GoldBod addressing his criticism.
The Minority Leader linked his concerns about gold trading to the environmental damage associated with illegal mining, highlighting threats to forests and water bodies.
He singled out the Atewa Forest, warning that it could suffer further degradation unless stronger action was taken.
“If we are not careful, Atewa forest will not be there for us again,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin also raised concerns about the cost and difficulty of treating contaminated water. Drawing on his experience as a former chairman of the Ghana Water Limited board, he said reports from the company indicated that pollution was putting pressure on treatment operations.
“The report coming from Ghana Water is that not only is it becoming more expensive to treat the water, but the extent of contamination of our water bodies is such that some treatment plant cannot even function,” he said.
He did not identify the affected treatment plants or provide figures for the increased costs in the supplied account. It also contains no direct statement from Ghana Water Limited confirming those operational difficulties.
His call for tighter oversight places the source of gold supplied to buyers at the centre of his criticism: whether trading arrangements can support the formal gold sector while preventing illegally mined gold from entering the same market.