By Daniel Bampoe
A fresh debate over the origins of the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme has brought renewed attention to a series of official documents and statements that credit former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia with initiating the policy.
The programme, which allows the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to purchase locally produced gold with Ghana cedis for the purpose of building foreign exchange reserves, has become an important part of discussions about the efforts to strengthen its reserves and stabilise the cedi. But as competing political narratives emerge over who conceived and introduced the initiative, documents dating back to 2021 and 2022 have been cited as evidence that Dr Bawumia played the initiating role.
The most direct piece of evidence comes from remarks delivered by the then Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison at the launch of the Gold Purchase Programme on June 17, 2021. In paragraph 14 of the Governor’s address, the Vice President was specifically acknowledged for his role in getting the programme started.
The Governor went on to acknowledge the Ghana Minerals Commission, PMMC and the Ghana Chamber of Mines for their collaborative roles. Supporters of the Bawumia-origin narrative argue that the distinction is significant: the Vice President was credited with starting the programme, while the other institutions were recognised for their collaboration in implementing it.
The documentary trail continues into 2022, when the Ghana Chamber of Mines issued a statement supporting an expanded implementation of the programme. The Chamber disclosed that gold-producing member companies would sell approximately 125,000 ounces of gold to the Bank of Ghana between September and December 2022.
According to the Chamber, the decision followed a meeting involving Dr Bawumia, members of the Economic Management Team, the Bank of Ghana, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Minerals Commission, PMMC and the leadership of the Chamber.
At the meeting, Dr Bawumia announced that beginning September 1, 2022, the Bank of Ghana would purchase a portion of the output of gold mining companies continuously at world market prices, with payment made in Ghana cedis.
He explained that the arrangement was intended to help strengthen the Bank of Ghana’s foreign exchange reserves.
“This will represent a significant and sustainable addition to the foreign exchange reserves over time and strengthen the country’s balance of payments position,” he said, according to the Chamber’s account.
The Chamber’s records also indicate that Newmont Ghana had already sold 3,500 ounces of gold to the Bank of Ghana under the programme before the September 2022 expansion.
Chamber President Joshua Mortoti subsequently expressed the organisation’s support for the initiative, describing it as mutually beneficial to the stakeholders involved, while Chamber’s Chief Executive Officer Sulemanu Koney said member companies would continue engaging the central bank to accelerate implementation.
The documents also provide an indication that discussions on the Gold Purchase Programme had started as early as 2020 between the Bank of Ghana and gold-producing members of the Chamber of Mines, particularly around the need to support the foreign exchange reserves.
The policy subsequently found its way into the New Patriotic Party’s manifesto, where the party outlined plans to expand and institutionalise the Gold Purchase Programme under a future Bawumia administration.
The manifesto described the successful piloting of the Bank of Ghana’s Gold Purchase Programme and the Gold-for-Oil Programme as proof that the mineral resources could be leveraged to promote exchange-rate stability.
It further proposed a framework under which sustainably mined small-scale gold would be sold to the Bank of Ghana, PMMC or the Minerals Income Investment Fund, to increase reserves and supporting currency stability.
The manifesto also proposed allocating specific proven gold reserves to the Bank of Ghana to strengthen the programme and using the arrangement to provide greater coverage for domestic foreign exchange demand.
The evidence presented in the documents therefore establishes a chronology: discussions began in 2020, the programme was formally launched in June 2021, its implementation was expanded in 2022, and subsequent political policy proposals sought to deepen and institutionalise the mechanism.
The central claim now being advanced by Dr Bawumia’s supporters is that, although several state institutions and industry players participated in the programme, the Bank of Ghana Governor’s own launch remarks provide the clearest attribution of who got the initiative started.
The current BoG Governor, Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama has also praised Dr Bawumia for the initiative to build up of the country reserves through the gold purchase programme.
The distinction is important because the debate is not necessarily about who participated in the implementation of the programme, but rather who originated or initiated the policy.
The September 2022 Chamber of Mines record strengthens that argument by placing Dr Bawumia at the centre of the discussions that led to the expansion of gold purchases from mining companies, while the 2021 Bank of Ghana launch statement provides the clearest contemporaneous acknowledgement of his initiating role.
Thus, based on the documents cited, the programme was discussed in 2020, launched in 2021, expanded significantly in 2022 and subsequently incorporated into broader proposals for using Ghana’s gold reserves to support foreign exchange stability.
