Senyo Hosi: How GoldBod Can Ensure Fair Play in Ghana’s Mining Sector

Business leader and policy analyst, Senyo Kwasi Hosi says it is about time Ghana deploys the necessary strategies to fully benefit from the financial gains of the small-scale mining sector.

Senyo Hosi says it appears the mining contracts and agreements with the mainstream large-scale mining sector were signed with terms and in a manner that puts the country in a disadvantaged position.

In an opinion cited by Accra Street Journal, Senyo Hosi, for instance, indicated that the contracts in both the oil and gold sectors allow these multinational companies to retain portions of their income outside the country. The impact of this, he says, is the failure of the country to get the full benefit of the foreign currency which can strengthen the cedi.

But the policy analyst says although the country is disadvantaged with mainstream mining, all hope is not lost yet as the small-scale mining sector is fully and directly under the control of the state.

Senyo Hosi says the country has no justification to lose the monetary benefits of the small-scale mining sector, which is supposed to account for about 40% of the country’s total gold production.

Unfortunately, this is Ghana’s current situation. Data from the United Nations COMTRADE revealed that in 2023 alone, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imported gold worth USD 7.1 billion from Ghana, yet Ghana’s reported gold exports to the UAE stood at only USD 4.8 billion.

This significant discrepancy, Senyo Hosi says, signifies a loss of economic value that Ghana cannot afford to ignore.

“So, for what reason should Ghana not realize the full benefits of the foreign currency receipts from small-scale mining?” he quizzed.

To address such a discrepancy in the sector, he says he fully supports the introduction of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod). The proposed GoldBod, according to sources within the government, will institute a system that will centralize and regulate small-scale mining in the country.

The GoldBod, he asserts, would not only ensure proper oversight and traceability but also position Ghana to benefit from premium pricing and branding for its gold. He warns that without such interventions, Ghana will continue to suffer the same fate as other resource-rich yet economically stagnant nations, where foreign entities and middlemen benefit far more from natural wealth than the citizens themselves.

To him, if the mainstream mining sector has failed to deliver proper and deserving economic value to the country, the same cannot be repeated in the small-scale sector. Hosi further adds that Ghana must ensure that every ounce of gold extracted contributes to the socio-economic development of Ghanaians.

“If through concession contracts we lose full monetary policy benefits of mainstream mining, we should not lose same with our small-scale mining. It is for this reason that I find the proposition of the GoldBod as part of Ghana’s strategy to regulate and optimise the country’s benefit from the trade in gold and other precious minerals, conceptually potent proposition,” he indicated.

He added: “The centralization of the trade presents international buyers with strong option for quality assurance and an opening for the marking and unique branding of Ghana’s Gold. I do not see the GoldBod becoming a failure like COCOBOD.”

This view from Senyo Hosi comes to deepen the ongoing debate for reforms in the country’s mining sector. At the forefront of this debate is the former Chief Justice of Ghana, Her Ladyship Sophia Akuffo who is championing a campaign for the country to review what she describes as colonial agreements in the mining sector.