A bitter political showdown has erupted between the Chief Executive of the Ghana Gold Board (Goldbod), Sammy Gyamfi, and Member of Parliament for Tano North, Dr. Gideon Boako, over who deserves credit for the recent appreciation of the Ghana Cedi.
In a provocative statement on X (formerly Twitter), Sammy Gyamfi attributed the cedi’s 16.7% appreciation since January 2025 to what he called ‘deliberate and strategic policy interventions’ by the current NDC/Mahama administration. According to Gyamfi, key measures driving the recovery include a tighter monetary policy, fiscal consolidation, and robust forex inflows from gold exports and remittances.
“This is the result of sound leadership and smart economics under the Mahama government. We didn’t just talk; we acted—raising the policy rate, managing our finances prudently, and boosting foreign reserves through unprecedented gold exports,” Gyamfi asserted.
He went further to pose a loaded question: “What is more important – accumulating physical gold with an exchange rate of GH¢16, or building forex liquidity through gold exports and stabilizing the cedi at GH¢12.2?”
But Dr. Gideon Boako, a top aide to former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and a leading NPP voice, fired back, calling Gyamfi’s claims misguided and intellectually dishonest.
“Like the typical NDC, our Goldbod CEO, Sammy Gyamfi, is failing to appreciate the issues,” Boako wrote in a sharply worded rebuttal.
According to Boako, the groundwork for the current cedi appreciation was laid by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government, which built up international reserves before leaving office in December 2024.
“If this quantum of reserves had not been built by the previous government, there’s no way the current government could pump such huge amounts of dollars into the market. You should thank Bawumia and the NPP for building such a solid reserve for you to enjoy. Don’t be ungrateful,” Boako argued.
He added that the IMF had previously restricted Ghana to minimal interventions due to weak reserves. However, the NPP administration met and exceeded the three-month import cover requirement, leading to the lifting of those constraints.
Boako continued, “The NPP didn’t just stop there. We announced in our 2024 manifesto the plan to back the cedi with gold starting from 2025. The NDC is only implementing what we envisioned but with less transparency.”
He warned that the current administration’s ‘over-reliance’ on reserve injection without sustained reserve accumulation is a reckless gamble that could backfire shortly.
“My worry is that the current government does not seem concerned to keep building on the current reserves for future use. Think about the future like the NPP/Bawumia did,” he cautioned.
Boako declared: “Mahama rules, but Bawumia’s ideas reign.”
The exchange underscores rising political tension as both sides battle for narrative control ahead of the 2025 mid-year budget review, with currency stability now at the heart of economic and political debate.