The Member of Parliament for Nhyiaeso, Stephen Amoah has bemoaned the state of poverty in Africa despite the abundant wealth of the continent.

In a recent documentary on gold smuggling in Ghana by JoyNews, it was uncovered how security operatives and politically connected individuals, among others, are complicit in a gold smuggling syndicate that exports the mineral through the country’s air and seaports illegally.

Following the airing of the piece titled Busted: The Gold Smugglers, Mr Amoah who spoke on NewsFile expressed his worry about the practice and its effect on the continent as a whole.

“I’m not surprised, I’m not surprised because we are going through a lot of these things. And I think it accounts for the reason we are so much endowed with a lot of raw materials, natural resources. We are so rich as a continent but we are very poor.

“On the Global League Table, we are at the bottom as a continent but in terms of natural resources and raw materials we are on top and this is what accounts for it,” Dr Amoah emphasised.

The Former CEO of MASLOC, however, commended the President for acknowledging the gold smuggling syndicate and believes this is indicative of Akufo-Addo’s readiness to address the issue.

Meanwhile, during the vetting of the Finance minister-designate, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta proposed the implementation of a new policy that will help address the smuggling of gold from the country.

This new policy, according to Ken Ofori-Atta, which forms part of government’s efforts to stop illicit financial flows will include the adaptation of COCOBOD’s approach to cocoa exports.