By Benjamin Nii Nai Anyetei
Nana Yaw Sarpong, Political Assistant to Alan Kyerematen and member of the Movement for Change, has called for stronger state control of Ghana’s gold trade through a more robust Gold Board system.
Speaking on GBC’s Current Agenda, Sarpong said one of the biggest weaknesses in Ghana’s fight against illegal mining (galamsey) is the inability to trace the origin of gold sold on the market. He argued that every sale must be linked to proper documentation showing how the gold was mined, the technology used, and the company behind the extraction.
“If you want to sell gold, you should go to a licensed Gold Board vendor and provide full documentation. The state should be able to tell whether the company mined legally or illegally, and whether they followed the right environmental processes,” he said.
Sarpong explained that many small-scale miners exploit loopholes in the licensing system by using one concession permit to extend operations illegally into unauthorized areas. A strong Gold Board, he argued, would stop such practices by requiring traceability and verification of all gold brought to market.
He also suggested that the state should create a short “mop-up window,” during which illegally mined gold already in circulation could be bought up by the Board — preventing it from disappearing into private pockets or foreign smuggling networks.
According to Sarpong, empowering the Gold Board to regulate, monitor, and trace all gold transactions is critical to bringing order to the sector. “Without a system that tracks origin and ownership, the fight against galamsey will remain cosmetic,” he warned.
