Accra — If there is one thing the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration has mastered, it is the art of naming ceremonies. On Friday, March 27, 2026, Parliament was once again the theatre for a grand gesture: the passage of the Governance Advisory Council Bill. On paper, it sounds like the magic wand Ghana has been waiting for. It promises transparency, strategic policy guidance, and a beefed-up fight against the cancer of corruption.
But wait. Just as the champagne was being poured for this new “accountability” body, the very same Majority in Parliament used their numbers to kill a motion. The Minority wanted a simple thing: an ad-hoc committee to look into the alleged $214 million losses at GoldBod under the Gold-for-Reserves scheme.
Is it not a bit like a father buying a heavy padlock for the main gate while leaving the back door wide open for the neighborhood thieves?
The Institute of Economic Research and Public Policy (IERPP), led by the sharp-witted Prof. Isaac Boadi, has hit the nail on the head. They are asking the question every Ghanaian in the trotro is whispering: Why set up an anti-corruption agency while shielding GoldBod from the very sunshine of scrutiny?
Let us look at the facts without the colored lenses for a moment. Under the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, we saw a party that, despite the heavy global economic storms, maintained a level of institutional respect that allowed for debates on value-for-money. Today, we see a government that talks about “human rights and accountability” in a Bill, yet votes against an investigation into 7 billion Cedis of reported losses at the central bank related to gold trading.
The GoldBod CEO, Sammy Gyamfi, says these are “operational costs” and not “losses.” He argues that spending $214 million to get $10 billion in forex is a masterstroke. If it is such a brilliant economic victory, why are they afraid of an ad-hoc committee? Usually, when you win a trophy, you want the whole world to see it. You don’t hide the trophy under the bed and tell everyone to “just trust me, it’s there.”
This is where the NPP stands tall in the memory of the discerning voter. The NPP, in its governance style, often leaned towards structural transparency that invited the private sector and civil society into the room. This current NDC approach feels more like a “closed-shop” operation. They give you the Governance Advisory Council to keep you busy with meetings and seminars, while the real money moves behind a curtain of Majority votes.
Prof. Boadi is right. This makes the new Council look superfluous. If the Council cannot look into GoldBod, what is it for? Is it just a place to park political friends and give them “strategic policy” titles?
The Ghanaian voter is far more sophisticated now. We can see the difference between a party that builds systems to work and a party that builds systems to look like they are working. As we head towards the next cycle, the credibility gap is widening. One party gives us digitisation and transparent gold tracking; the other gives us a Governance Council that cannot even look at a gold board.
We must ask ourselves: between the one who opens the books and the one who passes a law to talk about books while keeping them locked, who truly respects the Ghanaian taxpayer?
