Gold Board’s mandate must include buying from multinational firms – IEA

By Solomon Nartey Tetteh

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has urged government to expand the mandate of the newly established Gold Board by requiring multinational mining companies to also sell their gold to the board.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, Board Chair of IEA Ghana, Dr Charles Mensa, welcomed the creation of the Gold Board as a great idea but insisted that its scope must be broadened to ensure fairness.

“Not only should we buy from our people, we should also have the international companies sell to the Gold Board. There is discrimination when you buy from small-scale miners and leave out the big companies,” he said.

Dr Mensa argued that requiring multinational companies to sell part of their output to the board would strengthen Ghana’s reserves and ensure that the benefits of gold production are more evenly distributed.

He further touched on the growing threat of illegal mining, warning that the intensity of galamsey activities is pushing the country toward a potential national emergency.

“The emergency is near and we all see it coming. While leaving it to the President to decide when such a declaration should be made based on security intelligence,” Dr Mensa cautioned.

He stressed that for the IEA, however, the immediate priority is for the Gold Board to extend its operations beyond small-scale miners to include multinational firms.

“The most important thing for us is that the Gold Board should buy from the big mining companies too, because it is not fair to only buy from the poor,” Dr Mensa added.