The Minister for Energy, Honourable John Abdulai Jinapor has stated that the Gold-for-Oil programme (G4O) which was implemented by the Akuffo-Addo government in January 2023, is not transparent and lacks clarity.
The purpose of the programme was to allow the government to pay for imported oil products with gold, a direct barter trade with gold purchased by the Central Bank.
The energy minister, speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Tuesday February 4, 2024, stated that the G4O programme is questionable and would have to be replaced with a more transparent system.
According to him, “there’s a high level of opacity and the clarity is not there. The Auditor General has flagged it. So, it’s not just what we are saying – it is a fact. The reality is that we are reforming this because of the high level of opacity.”
The programme, when first implemented, attracted a lot of criticisms from citizens and economists. The operational framework of the programme has been described as lacking publicly available information on significant transactions and the selection process of participating companies.
Mr. Jinapor expressed his dissatisfaction on the current nature of the programme and said, “we are pursuing these reforms because of the opacity and lack of clarity. It is difficult to get information, even in respect of offshore and all these companies that are dealt with. The criteria for even selecting the companies in not clear-cut. So clearly there is a problem – that is why we want to reform.”
When questioned whether the current government would maintain the programme, the Minister stated, “No. We will replace it with a better programme. The current Gold-for-oil programme we’ve inherited, we will discontinue.”
He however acknowledged that removing the entire framework and creating a new one will take some time and establishing a new framework will need approval from parliament, and that will include extensive legal battles.
Mr. Jinapor said his outfit would be working to reduce losses under the programme, pending its entire replacement with a new framework.
“In the interim, we are trying to shift the current system and ensure that we reduce the losses and make it a bit more transparent, but ultimately, we want to replace it.” The Gold-for-Oil Programme has received a lot of criticisms right from its inception.
Critics have been questioning its transparency as well as its relevance to the economic status of the country. Some, however, believe it is a means for government officials to engage in dubious agreements for personal gains.
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