The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has announced plans to closely examine several policies of the current government if it wins the December 7 election.
One of the main policies under scrutiny is the Gold-for-Oil (G4O) programme, which Isaac Adongo, the spokesperson on the economy for NDC flagbearer John Mahama, has highlighted as a significant concern.
In an interview on Joy News’ PM Express, Adongo accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer of misleading Ghanaians by promising to expand the G4O programme, even though the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised the government to discontinue it.
“IMF says, transit from this arrangement, don’t do it again. Then you come and deceive us that you want to expand it,” Adongo remarked.
Government introduced the Gold-for-Oil (G4O) initiative as a strategic effort to stabilize fuel prices and lessen dependency on foreign oil markets.
The program involves purchasing gold in cedis to secure oil imports, with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) supplying the oil to the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST) for distribution.
However, the initiative has faced criticism, with allegations of mismanagement and corruption. Critics have raised concerns about the lack of transparency, the awarding of contracts, and the actual benefits of the program.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia recently defended the G4O initiative, asserting that it has been essential in preventing the collapse of Ghana’s economy.
He claimed that the policy has led to lower fuel prices at the pumps and facilitated the local purchase of ¢5 billion worth of gold, ensuring a stable supply of fuel commodities.
“Without the gold purchase program and the gold-for-oil programme, this economy would have collapsed,” Bawumia stated.
However, John Mahama has vowed to launch a thorough investigation into what he describes as the NPP government’s “opaque” Gold-for-Oil programme.
“We will investigate NPP’s opaque Gold for Oil programme,” Mahama said.
Echoing Mahama’s sentiments, Adongo added, “We are not only stopping it, we are investigating it. It is part of our manifesto promise. The Auditor-General says that they did not find any agreement covering the Gold for Oil arrangement.
“What it means is that you have people who just go to Bank of Ghana, take gold, they go to buy oil, whether they bring the oil or not we don’t know. We don’t have any guarantee that if something goes bad, we’ll get our money back.
“And you think that we should continue with this scam, this loot and share. We will investigate it. And there’s no way Gold for Oil will last one day.”