Deputy Majority Leader, Kwaku Ricketts Hagan, has disclosed that the persons behind the ‘Gold for Oil’ programme under the erstwhile Akufo-Addo administration will soon face the law.
Describing the programme as “useless”, the Cape Coast South legislator said the deal cost Ghana millions of cedis without any meaningful impact on citizens.
Speaking to Piesie Okrah on the ‘Asem Kesie’ programme on Power 97.9 FM, Hagan who is also the Board Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) indicated that he knew about ongoing investigations on the deal and assured that those behind it will soon be called to account for their roles in that transaction.
“We know the wheels of justice grind slowly; however, justice prevails at the end,” he said and added that although he does not work at the Attorney General’s Department, he strongly believes the day of accountability is near.
To him, the barter policy, which was supposed to tackle fuel prices and stabilise the cedi under the previous government, failed amid high cost of living.
He also said the transaction never lived up to expectations and was shrouded in corruption, causing financial loss to the state.
Unlike the Mahama administration that has put in measures to stabilise the country’s currency and bring relief to Ghanaians, Hagan noted that the Gold for Oil policy did not have any positive impact on Ghanaians at the time the government touted it as an innovative way to cushion citizens.
Ghana’s Gold-for-Oil programme was introduced in late 2022 under the leadership of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
It was a barter arrangement aimed at easing economic pressures by using domestically sourced gold to pay for petroleum imports, thereby reducing demand for US dollars and pressure on the cedi.
The policy was launched when inflation had exceeded 50 per cent by the end of 2022, a sharp depreciation of the cedi, driven largely by high fuel import costs and broader macroeconomic challenges.
However, the Deputy Majority Leader argued that “the policy was useless because we did not feel its impact.”
“They could have gone to the international market with that strategy to purchase oil with the gold instead of dealing with third parties,” he stated.
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