A Ghana Gold Board special task force was established by President John Dramani Mahama to police gold trade laws and combat illicit exports.
GPS-tracked cars, body-worn cameras, and a reward program for reporting misconduct have all been installed in the unit.
The Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140), which aims to formalize the gold trade and enhance responsibility in the industry, was implemented more broadly with the inauguration held in Accra on Tuesday, July 8, 2025.
The President said during the event that the task team had been carefully chosen and trained. He said that prior to deployment, every member had completed team exercises, anti-corruption briefings, and polygraph examinations.
He went on to say that all field operations would be tracked in real time and required written approval from the Gold Board’s CEO.
“Every officer will wear a body camera. Every vehicle will be GPS-tracked. There will be no room for abuse,” President Mahama said.
Additionally, he declared that 10% of the recovered value would be awarded to anyone who provided reliable information that resulted in the seizure of cash or gold.
The President threatened to immediately fire, prosecute, and deprive any task force member who was discovered to have engaged in malfeasance.
“This is not business as usual. It is a matter of national duty and pride,” he said.
It is anticipated that members of the military, national security, and other law enforcement organizations will work together as a joint security unit. Enforcing rules that forbid unauthorized gold trade and restrict foreigners from buying gold in Ghana’s local market are two aspects of its duty.
Those found guilty of unlawful gold trafficking under the new Act could be imprisoned for five to ten years, fined up to GH¢2.4 million, or both.
According to President Mahama, the program is a component of the government’s larger economic reform and an attempt to close long-standing revenue leaks in the gold industry.
Ghana’s official gold export statistics and those of its trading partners differ by 229 metric tons, according to a recent report he referenced.
Over a period of five years, the deficit was projected to have resulted in a lost value of about $11.4 billion.
The Gold Board will implement a nationwide traceability system to connect each gram of gold to a certified and ecologically responsible source in order to address this, Mr. Mahama stated.
In addition, he stated that plans were in motion to start refining gold locally for export as bullion rather than raw doré bars and to set up an ISO-certified assay facility by 2026.
Source: newsthemegh.com