Member of Parliament for Suame, John Darko, has rejected allegations levelled against the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi.

Mr Gyamfi had made extortion claims against Mr Afenyo-Markin in a war of words following the latter's demand for accountability over a reported $1.7 billion loss involving the government's Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP)

He said Mr Afenyo-Markin had never extorted Mr Gyamfi or any other person and described the Minority Leader as a “genuine-hearted” and “blameless” politician who was committed to serving the country.

Mr Darko said the Minority Caucus would take legal action against the GoldBod CEO over what he described as false allegations against the Effutu MP.

“We will take action against this guy for all the lies because, look, nothing like that has happened,” he said.

Mr Darko was speaking on Joy FM's Top Story on Monday, August 24, 2026, in reaction to the claims made by Mr Gyamfi concerning Mr Afenyo-Markin.

The Suame MP said Mr Afenyo-Markin had categorically denied the allegations and insisted that he had confidence in the Minority Leader's integrity.

“The leader has denied it, and I know that it has never happened. This is not the kind of leader we have. We have a genuine-hearted leader. We have somebody who is blameless. We have somebody who is willing to fight for this country; he has never ever taken anything from anybody. He has never extorted Sammy Gyamfi,” he said.

Defamation action

Mr Darko said the Minority Leader was prepared to pursue legal remedies over the allegations, arguing that they had crossed the line from political disagreement into defamatory claims.

“We are going to bring action against him. And you know, we'll bring action against him for defamation,” he stated.

His comments add another layer to the escalating exchanges between the GoldBod leadership and the Minority Caucus, particularly over questions surrounding the operations and financial transactions of the state-owned gold trading institution.

The dispute has intensified as the Minority continues to demand greater scrutiny of GoldBod's activities and the Bank of Ghana's Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, while the GoldBod leadership has defended its operations and challenged allegations made against it.

‘Much ado about nothing’

Mr Darko also dismissed the prospect of an investigation arising from the allegations, describing it as unlikely to yield anything substantive.

“But as for this investigation, I don't think that is going to go anywhere. It's much ado about nothing,” he said.

The latest development comes amid heightened political and public scrutiny of GoldBod and its role in Ghana's gold trading regime, with the Minority insisting that questions surrounding transactions involving public funds must be subjected to proper parliamentary and institutional oversight.

Mr Darko maintained that the allegations against Mr Afenyo-Markin would not distract the Minority from its broader oversight responsibilities.