The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has affirmed that the creation of the Board received overwhelming backing from stakeholders and civil society groups, who recognised it as a vital intervention to curb gold smuggling and bring order to Ghana’s gold trade.

Speaking at the Mining in Motion Summit on Monday, 9 June, he said the previous system was disorganised and lacked regulatory coherence, leading to significant revenue losses for the country.

According to Mr Gyamfi, the former structure, which saw several state agencies involved in gold purchasing without clear coordination, created loopholes that were exploited by smugglers.

“All the patriotic Ghanaians we engaged and the various civil society organisations saw GoldBod as an imperative—an urgent imperative—to stop this mess,” he stated.

He noted that GoldBod now functions as the central authority responsible for regulating the trade, issuing licences to all players and enforcing a unified code of conduct.

“We now have a central agency streamlining and structuring gold trading, licensing all players involved in the trade and ensuring that everybody adheres to one common code of conduct,” Mr Gyamfi explained.

The CEO added that the new framework not only ensures legal and responsible sourcing but also helps the country retain vital foreign exchange earnings and revenue from its gold exports.

“This ensures that we are able to get the forex associated with the gold we buy and the revenue that we desperately need for the development of the country,” he remarked.

GoldBod was established under the GoldBod Act, 2025 (Act 1140), as part of the government’s economic recovery strategy.

Its core mandate is to oversee gold purchasing, regulate exports, and enforce transparency across the gold trade—measures expected to boost foreign reserves and close avenues for illicit trade.