The Minority in Parliament has criticised the government’s Gold for Reserves policy, describing it as an act of “national self-sabotage” in the absence of firm action against illegal mining, popularly known as gamamsey.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament during its second session, the Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin accused the government of prioritising a failing financial experiment at the expense of Ghana’s environment.

He warned that the policy is worsening ecological destruction rather than stabilising the economy.

“We state without equivocation that the gold for reserves policy the government has initiated, to the extent that it is not taking steps to ensure full enforcement of anti-galamsey operations, is a policy of national self-sabotage,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said.

According to him, the state is effectively “monetising environmental destruction” by relying on gold sourced from areas devastated by illegal mining to support the policy.

“The data now proves that this policy has backfired catastrophically,” he added

According to him, Ghana’s gold reserves have suffered a sharp decline under the policy, explaining that "Our gold reserves, which stood at 37.1 million tonnes in September 2025, plunged by nearly 50 percent to a mere 18.6 million tonnes by December 2025,” he said.