By Emmanuel Bamfo 
The ongoing balance sheet disagreement between the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) is raising major accountability questions in the country. Private legal practitioner Kwame Nkrumah Bortio has publicly questioned the consistency of GoldBod’s position. He asked why the Board is eager to accept credit for operational profits while shifting the heavy trading losses onto the central bank’s books.
Legal experts and public commentators argue that the same logic must apply to both sides of the ledger. You cannot take praise for financial success and then disown the trading risks that made those transactions possible. When an entity collects service and assay fees from gold deals, it must also own the policy costs and exchange rate differences linked to them.
Recent reports from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) highlighted massive accounting costs connected to the domestic gold purchase programme. While GoldBod claims an operational surplus of over GH¢900 million, public auditors and international reviewers flag severe balance-sheet strains at the central bank. This accounting gap has triggered intense public scrutiny regarding who ultimately protects the taxpayer.
For full economic transparency, state institutions must align their financial reporting. A single standard of accountability ensures that both profits and policy costs are reported clearly on the exact same ledger. Addressing these structural discrepancies is the only way to build true public trust in Ghana’s gold management strategy.
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