We were told a story. That Ghana would no longer beg the dollar to power our engines and light our markets. That we would lift our gold like a shield and import fuel without kneeling to the greenback. It sounded bold. It sounded patriotic.
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But it was a story.
Gold for Oil (G4O), launched in late 2022 and terminated in March 2025, was sold as a revolution. In practice, it was a rerouted dollar sale, gold turned into cash, cash handed to chosen players, and a market tilted in favor of the state’s own importer. The “innovation” was not in the economics; it was in the choreography.
The scheme left behind central bank exchange losses in the billions of cedis, unexplained forex channels, and suppliers with barely any track record. It left Ghanaians with slogans while the ledgers were hidden. If this programme was meant to save the cedi and calm prices, why did nothing collapse when the Bank of Ghana suspended it on March 3, 2025, and fully exited ten days later? Because the magic was never in the model. The magic was in the marketing.
The NPP promised G4O would tame volatility. What it did, reliably, was expand BOST’s footprint and replace transparent auction windows with private corridors where chosen hands received dollars and the public received slogans. The numbers do not lie. The Bank of Ghana’s own accounts record massive losses, and civil groups have shown their working, cargo by cargo, exemption by exemption. Yet, instead of evidence, the public was served insults. That is not policy failure alone; it is betrayal of trust.
Ghana does not need technocratic theatre. If fuel imports need support in a tight forex season, the lawful, transparent tool already exists: open dollar auctions. If gold is to be leveraged, it should be through contracts that can be read, assays that can be verified, and counterparties that can withstand due diligence. You cannot govern an economy with vibes.
Meanwhile, the tax net was treated like a suggestion. Cargoes slipped from port to depot with paperwork missing. Exemptions granted at the gate became permanent amnesia downstream. With BOST in dominant control of logistics, reconciliations blurred and leakages ballooned. That is not development. That is decay with PR.
Some now claim the programme brought stability. But stability is not secrecy. Stability that arrives wrapped in off book deals and unexplained spreads is the kind that robs the present and mortgages the future. If G4O truly delivered value, then open the books: show the dates, volumes, rates, and fees. Compare side door forex to auction rates. Show us who got what, when, and why. If there was no rent to be captured, there will be nothing to hide.
Citizens must resist fatigue. The goal of elaborate ceremony is simple, keep you applauding while money moves. The antidote is equally simple, follow the paper. Ask for assay certificates, customs entries, auction results. Demand that NPA, BoG, GRA, and BOST publish, not narrate, what transpired. We do not need speeches. We need spreadsheets.
So what now? A serious country does three things.
First, commission an independent forensic audit, ounce by ounce on the gold leg, cargo by cargo on the oil leg. This should not be political theatre but a legal process with consequences for lying and stonewalling.
Second, clawbacks. If exemptions were abused, assess and recover. If customs entries were skipped, recover. If hidden premia drained the public purse, identify beneficiaries and recover. If laws were broken, prosecute.
Third, fix the plumbing. No more side windows for forex allocation. Publish auction results promptly. Require beneficial ownership disclosures for every supplier touching state deals. Formalise BoG PMMC contracts with LBMA linked pricing and independent assays. Deterrence is built on systems, not press releases.
And let there be no confusion: this is not GoldBod. GoldBod is about building an institutional backbone for Ghana’s gold economy, reserves, value addition, leverage. Gold for Oil was a financing gimmick dressed as alchemy. One is industrial policy; the other was performance art.
I write this as a citizen who has seen Ghana repeat the same lesson too many times: when you turn public policy into spectacle, somebody eats. When oversight is traded for insult, somebody steals. When transparency is sacrificed for access, somebody becomes untouchable, until the numbers run out and the people are asked to pay again.
Ghana is capable of adult governance, rules, records, reconciliation, results. Capable of leaders who respect citizens enough to show their work. Capable of institutions that fear the law more than the party whip. If the architects of this scheme are confident, they should welcome an audit like a righteous man welcomes daylight.
To the NPP: if you meant well, prove it. To the Auditor General, Parliament, the OSP, GRA, and the courts: do your jobs in public view. To the media: follow the ledger, not the podium. To citizens: keep asking for receipts.
The Gold for Oil programme may be dead, but the wounds it left are fresh. The truth is still owed. And the cost of silence will only rise if we let the burial be the end of the story.
*Kay Codjoe is an associate of IMANI*
