Parliament has passed the Ghana Gold Board Bill 2025, without the participation of the Minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Parliament.
Despite criticism from the minority caucus that the bill will promote illegal mining activities, also known as ‘galamsey’, the house approved the bill by a majority decision.
This followed a walkout by the Minority in Parliament during the consideration of the Bill to establish the highly controversial Gold Board that has already received a budgetary allocation of GH¢4.6 billion for the 2025 fiscal year.
The amount allocated to Gold Board is more than five times what has been given to key economic sectors and ministries including Food and Agribusiness; and Trade and Industry.
The Minority’s walkout was in response to the First Deputy Speaker, Bernard Ahiafor, disregarding their request to reconvene at 10 am on Saturday, March 29, to thoroughly discuss the bill after passing the 2025 Appropriation Bill.
Addressing journalists, the Minority Leader, Osahen Alexander Afenyo-Markin, questioned the government’s commitment to combating illegal mining, citing the allocation of GH¢4.6 billion to the policy as a major concern.
“We’re all aware of the challenges we face as a nation, specifically on galamsey. Our friends who are in government made some promises. Today, they are now the Apostles who are promoting galamsey. They are using their numbers to now establish what has become known as Galamsey Board. The government, instead of investing in agric, women’s banking, 24-hour economy policy, it used for the 2204 elections. It’s rather giving GHC4.6 billion to galamsey operators.
“If you say bring an enactment and say your focus is on small-scale mining, all of us in this country know that small-scale mining is galamsey. Is this government really ready to fight galamsey?
“How do you say you’re establishing a new entity that is going to monopolise the purchase of gold from small-scale miners, and now you are going to regulate galamsey and you’re going to give them money? Osahen Afenyo-Markin quizzed further.
