The strongest evidence in the dispute over Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme is a single sentence, delivered by the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, on the day the programme was launched.
On 17 June 2021, closing his remarks, the Governor acknowledged the support of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, “who got this programme started.”
He then thanked the Ghana Minerals Commission, PMMC and the Ghana Chamber of Mines for their collaborative roles, a distinction between the person who initiated and the institutions that assisted.
The Domestic Gold Purchase Programme has since become one of the more consequential instruments in Ghana’s reserve management, allowing the central bank to accumulate foreign exchange reserves by purchasing locally produced gold in cedis. By the account given in one manifesto passage, purchases under the programme reached some $5 billion over a two-year span.
The evidence available ends all the debate around who started this program, as it all points to Dr. Bawumia
