Former Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has questioned the competence of persons mandated with the establishment of the GoldBod.
According to him, people tasked for the purpose lack the competence and work experience to deliver efficiency.
“It is a good intent that they have expressed, you expect to populate the board with people with demonstrable competencies in commodity trading and so on. If you take people with no work experience, job for the boys, we can’t leave the country’s gold in the hands of such people”, he said.
The Former MP added, “if we get it wrong at the very outset, it will be dangerous for us as a country.”
He spoke at a public dialogue on the 2025 National Budget organised by the Kumasi Bloc Members of Parliament.
By the NDC’s manifesto promise, the Ghana Gold Board is being established to regulate the small-scale mining sector.
Acting CEO of the Precious Mineral and Marketing Commission, Sammy Gyamfi, is tasked to lead the formation of the Goldbod.
Already, the group has been meeting and soliciting views from players in the mining industry.
The Kumasi Dialogue by the parliamentarians was themed: “Assessing the 2025 Budget: Implications for Kumasi’s Development and the way forward.”
Touching on some thematic areas of the budget, the former MP questioned the legality of the allowances to be paid to Assembly members.
“If the President says He is giving the assembly members allowances, where is it going to come from? It is going to come out of the public funds, especially the consolidated fund, but the constitution doesn’t allow that”, Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu added.
He further emphasized, “The Finance Minister and Local Government Minister say the amount will be an allowance, that is laughable because the constitution defines emoluments to include allowances.”
From a gender perspective, Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu says budgetary allocation for the women’s bank is inadequate.
“With the capital requirement for the establishment of Banks set at GHs400 million which was equivalent to $100 million at the time it was determined, what can GHs51 million which is now equivalent to $3.2 million, do for the 17 million women of Ghana? Contained in the 51 million is the amount needed to set up the Bank”, he added.
The former MP indicated that the economic conditions of the Ashanti Region will be improved with proper environmental practices that will reduce galamsey and positively impact cocoa and timber production.
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