Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, has hit back at the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi.
According to Afenyo-Markin, Ghanaians asked for figures, but Sammy Gyamif sort to insults.
He argued that Sammy Gyamfi’s reference to a brothel does not belong in a statement issued by a public officer accounting for public funds.
In a statement issued after the Goldbod CEO’s Government Accountability Series on August 19, 2026, the Minority leader stated, “On Tuesday, 18th August 2026, the Minority in Parliament addressed a press conference on the financial and operational performance of the Ghana Gold Board and on reported losses under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme. Today, Wednesday, 19th August 2026, Government, acting through the GoldBod, responded at the Government Accountability Series. The Minority has considered the full text of that response and states as follows.
The GoldBod’s statement this morning confirms more than it rebuts
First, the loss is admitted. The Chief Executive does not dispute the IMF’s finding that there is a loss of US$1.7 million (22 billion Ghana cedis) under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme in 2025. He disputes only who should be blamed. This is public money, whichever State balance sheet it sits on
Second. the fee arithmetic is now on the record. The Chief Executive tells us the GoldBod accounted for about GHS133 billion in advances in 2025, and that it was paid an assay fee of 0.258 per cent and a service fee of 0.5 per cent. On those figures, the GoldBod earned in the region of GHS 1 billion in fees from this programme. He also tells us the GoldBod posted an operational surplus of GHS907 million. The plain implication of his own numbers is that the operational surplus he is celebrating is smaller than the fee income he collected from a programme that lost the state 22 billion Ghana Cedis. Strip out the agency fees, and there is no operational surplus to speak of. That is the point he did not address, and it is the point he must now address.
Third, he cannot claim the upside and disown the downside. The same statement credits the scaling up of the GPP with the 41 per cent cedi appreciation, the rise in reserves from US$8.9 billion to US$13 billion, and the fall in inflation, and the GoldBod has been foremost in taking public credit for those outcomes. An institution that claims authorship of the benefits cannot describe itself as a passive agent when the costs are counted.
Fourth, the funding position keeps shifting. By the Chief Executive’s own account, responsibility for GANRAP implementation cost moved from the Bank of Ghana to the Ministry of Finance in July 2026, and from August 2020 he GoldBod is seeking to raise funds independently. Three funding arrangements in six months is not a settled model. We view this with curious eyes.
The 22 billion Ghana cedis losses as reported by the IMF Sixth Country report, numbered 26/2 13 issued in August 2026, amount to a financial loss to the Republic. It must be accounted for
Finally, a word on tone. The Chief Executive’s reference to a brothel does not belong in a statement issued by a Public Officer accounting for public funds. Ghanaians asked for figures. They were given insults. The figures are still outstanding”.
The development follows Sammy Gyamfi, who took Alexander Afenyo-Markin, to the cleaners over his recent threat of jailing officials of the GoldBod.
It will be recalled that Alexander Afenyo-Markin threatened the CEO of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, and its leadership with possible ‘scary’ bail conditions in the future.
According to Afenyo-Markin, the GoldBod leadership in the future could face “scary” bail conditions if the standards being applied to some former government officials are maintained.
Afenyo-Markin, who was speaking at a press conference today, August 18, drew a comparison between what he described as stringent bail conditions imposed on some former government officials facing investigations and similar treatment of the current administration should the NPP Return to power.
The minority leader argued that the NDC government is setting a precedent through the conditions attached to bail for some accused persons, which could eventually have consequences for officials currently in government.
He warned that those currently holding public positions should consider how the standards are being applied today.
However, Sammy Gyamfi, speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, revealed he was not perturbed by the threats of jail by the Minority Leader.
Sammy Gyamfi described Afenyo-Markin’s comments as “the fanciful efficiency of a palm wine bar”, saying they should be treated as comic relief rather than serious parliamentary commentary.
He stated, “My good brother, Felix, says something. He says politics is a contact sport. So, when you are involved in politics, you are involved in boxing; you should be ready for tackles. You should be ready for punches. And some of us are vaccinated against political mischief. We’ve taken the vaccine, so we are not worried at all,” he said.
Sammy Gyamfi went on to slam the Minority Leader over his record at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) as board chairman, “But what I want to say is this: If the one under whose tenure as board chairman at ECG, you know, where ECG recorded a loss of 8.2 billion, is not facing any onerous bail terms, and how can Sammy Gyamfi under whose tenure the Gold Board has exported 170 tonnes of gold through formal channels and brought into this country over 17 billion United States dollars in one and a half years, face onerous bill terms?
“Such statements are reckless. They are what I call the fanciful efficiencies of, you know, of a palm wine bar; you take it as comic relief, and it is very sad. See, when we say this, he says we are insulting. We are not insulting him,” he said.
Sammy Gyamfi also accused the Effutu legislator of being a noisemaker who is denigrating the seat of the Minority Leader.
He added, “This is somebody occupying a seat once occupied by the venerable JH Mensah, the venerable Papa Owusu Amkomah, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu. Look at the depth and the substance of these personalities. When they rose to speak in Parliament, look at the command they commanded across the aisle, and look at how this seat has now been so bastardised and depraved by a noisemaker who cannot even read and research and get his facts right”.
“So, I will go. I will go to prison in his brain, and I will have onerous bill terms in his brain. I’m not. I’m not afraid of any intimidating taxes because we are serving Ghana in good conscience, and our resources and posterity will speak for us.”
See the statement below:
@ghnow_ Work is progressing on the $15 million upgrade and remodelling of Terminal 2 at the Accra International Airport. #GHnow #Fyp ♬ original sound – Spivey Lyrics🎶
@ghnow_ “I will go to Prison in his brain. “I am not afraid of any intimidation” – Hon Sammy Gyamfi to Hon Afenyo Markin #GHnow #Fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
