Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has assured Ghanaians that he will probe the Gold for Oil policy if he emerges victorious in the December polls.
Mr Mahama explained that the deal lacked fairness and needed a complete investigation to ensure Ghanaians were not losing.
The ruling government introduced the Gold for Oil deal in November 2022 to address the Cedi depreciation and the astronomical hikes in fuel prices.
However, speaking at the 3rd Annual Transformational Dialogue on Small-scale Mining at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) in Sunyani, Mr Mahama noted that the deal will be investigated to ascertain transparency.
“We will investigate the opaque Gold for Oil programme and expose the actors benefiting from this so-called barter agreement. Reports reaching me suggest that a new debt burden is being created because Ghana has not been able to keep up with its delivery of gold under the programme.”
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President and Flagbearer of the NPP announced the policy in 2022 in a move to address Ghana’s economic misfortune in foreign currency reserves. The government said it was to mitigate the excessive demands for dollars for oil importation.
Commenting on the impact of the policy, President Akufo-Addo told Parliament during the State of the Nation Address that there has been improvement since the policy was implemented.
“What we can say about it is that the premiums dropped from one hundred and eighty to two hundred dollars per metric ton ($180–200/MT) to seventy dollars per metric ton ($70/MT) or less. This also resulted in reduced and stabilized prices at the pumps of between twelve and thirteen cedis (GH¢12–13) per litre for the whole of 2023, “ Akufo-Addo.