Tax consultant Francis Timore Boi says it is too early to celebrate the impact of GoldBod, warning that Ghana cannot claim success in gold sector reforms without clear answers on where illegally mined gold ends up.

Speaking at Joy Business’ end-of-year economic forum, JoyBusiness Review 2025, on Thursday, December 17, Mr. Boi said that while GoldBod has been hailed as a major reform in the extractive sector, critical questions remain unresolved.

“Once we praise the GoldBod to be one of the most impactful extractive sector reforms in Ghana, there is a bigger, very thick issue. The illegal miners and the gold they produce, who buys them? These are the questions that we have not been able to answer,” he said.

He noted that illegal mining continues across the country despite enforcement efforts, with severe consequences for both the environment and the economy.

“Every day we see the illegal miners producing, excavating here and there, and today you and I are paying for it,” Mr. Boi stated.

Linking illegal mining to rising utility costs, he explained that polluted water sources have driven up water treatment expenses.

“I wasn’t surprised when Ghana Water said they were going to increase the tariff. They can’t process their water the way it used to be. They have to expend more, and so we are all paying for it,” he said.

Mr. Boi questioned whether gold from illegal mining is being channelled through official systems.

“The question is, where is the gold? Is it coming to the GoldBod?” he asked. “We don’t know who the importers of excavators are. The chemicals they use to process gold, we don’t fetch it like water.”

According to him, these gaps point to a deeper structural challenge that the country must confront.

“There is a thicker issue that, maybe as a country, we will have to start asking questions. Where is the produce going?” he added.

Mr. Boi said only by addressing these concerns can Ghana properly assess the success of GoldBod and recent economic gains.

“If we are able to answer that question, then we can either celebrate the GoldBod as doing a fantastic job by helping us get more dollars to stabilise the cedi, for which we are all praising the Bank of Ghana and the Minister of Finance,” he said.

Until then, he cautioned, the country risks misreading the true state of the gold sector.

“Until we are able to answer where the illegal mining produce is going, maybe we’ll be shooting ourselves in the foot. We may think we have bitten our tongue and gotten some nice meat that we are chewing, but it will be the contrary,” Mr. Boi warned.