On Joy FM's news analysis programme on Saturday, January 3, 2025, Economic Policy Analyst, Senyo Hosi, acknowledged the immense role of former Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, in establishing the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP), which is significantly contributing to the stability of the Cedi and to a large extent, the economy.

Senyo Hosi was emphatic, declaring that Dr. Bawumia was the brainchild of the impactful policy, which has boosted Ghana's gold reserves in a manner never seen before since independence, and also impacted the stability of the Cedi.

But how true is Senyo Hosi's bold claim?

Indeed, Senyo Horsi's claim is incontrovertible, as there are many official references to buttress his point.

First, at the official launch of the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme on June 17, 2021, the Bank of Ghana itself acknowledged Dr. Bawumia as the originator of the policy.

In his speech, which is public, and attached here, the then Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, on behalf of the Central Bank, credited Dr. Bawumia for getting the programme started.

Also, there are several online videos of Dr. Bawumia himself in 2021 and 2022 at official Bank of Ghana and government functions, in which he talked about how he got the Central Bank to start the DGPP and also predicting how it would positively stabilise the Cedi and impact the economy, having identified forex pressures as the bane of the economy.

As the former Vice President predicted in one of the videos in 2022, official records show that the DGPP truly boosted Ghana's gold reserves from 8 tonnes at the introduction of the policy, to over 30 tonnes in 2024, thus significantly contributing to the management of the forex market.

VERDICT

From official references, it is true that the Bank of Ghana's Domesric Gold Purchase Programme is a brainchild of Dr. Bawumia.