Dr. Tiah Abdul-Kabiru Mahama, Member of Parliament for Walewale, has publicly accused the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) of inflating its audited financial statements for the 2025 financial year by misclassifying a GH¢4.5 billion government capital injection as operational revenue.
According to the lawmaker, this accounting treatment distorts the state-owned enterprise’s true financial health, given that taxpayer-funded subventions account for more than 80 percent of the GH¢5.5 billion total revenue reported in its audited statements.
Dr. Mahama contends that this strategy was deliberately executed to present a false impression of profitability, obscuring underlying operational realities.
“The money GoldBod is using to declare surplus/profit is the taxpayers’ money and not revenue receipt. The revenue receipt accounts for less than 20% of the so called total revenue. Goldbod never made the surplus they claim to have made. It is another scam. Rather, they caused GH¢22bn loss to Ghana.”
Dr. Tiah Abdul-Kabiru Mahama
Dr. Mahama explained that because GoldBod is a state-owned enterprise under 100 percent state ownership, funds received from the central government ought to be recognized strictly as owner’s capital rather than non-exchange grants or subvention revenue.
He highlighted an internal contradiction within GoldBod’s own reporting, noting that page five of the audited account explicitly identifies the Ministry of Finance’s transfer as revolving trade capital.
By recording this capital as subvention, the institution improperly boosted its top-line figures, transforming an actual underlying deficit into a reported surplus. He asserted that without the GH¢4.5 billion equity transfer from the consolidated fund, GoldBod’s actual revenue receipt would have been about GH¢1 billion.
Furthermore, he recalled that during the passage of the GoldBod Act, lawmakers were categorically assured by Hon. Cassiel Ato Forson that central government seed capital was refundable by way of transfer of surplus to the consolidated fund, functioning like dividend payments to a shareholder rather than unearned subvention gifts.
Accounting Integrity and Governance Violations
The revelation that over four-fifths of GoldBod’s top-line revenue stems from sovereign transfers raises severe red flags regarding corporate governance, public sector accountability, and financial reporting integrity within Ghana’s extractive industry.
By christening equity transfers as grant receipts, the state entity effectively bypasses fundamental financial metrics used to assess the true operational performance of state enterprises.
Converting state seed funds into revenue allows management to conceal underlying operational inefficiencies, excessive administrative overheads, and potential trading losses.
When state-owned entities mask fiscal deficits through artificial paper adjustments, it undermines public confidence, distorts national budget planning, and sets a dangerous governance precedent across West Africa’s natural resource management landscape.
Commercial Viability and Capital Structure Implications
The misclassification of capital funding severely distorts GoldBod’s underlying balance sheet, masking its actual commercial health and long-term economic viability.
If an enterprise relies on treasury infusions to account for over 80 percent of its revenue claims, its core business model becomes structurally unsustainable.
In gold trading and commodities export, authentic revenue must reflect real trade volumes, international market spreads, and core operational margins rather than taxpayer bailouts.
If state funding is treated as income rather than trade capital, the institution faces zero commercial discipline to recover capital or generate genuine return on investment.
Should government financing fluctuate or cease, GoldBod’s real operational capacity which currently yields barely GH¢1 billion would expose the institution to severe liquidity distress, operational paralysis, and structural insolvency.
Broader Market Distortion and Sovereign Risk Exposure
Beyond internal governance concerns, Dr. Mahama’s allegations highlight significant risks for Ghana’s broader minerals sector, international trade standing, and sovereign fiscal stability.
If GoldBod has indeed generated a net loss of GH¢22 billion as alleged, the domestic bullion market faces severe distortion where a state trader relies on taxpayer subsidies to compete against private gold exporters and local artisanal mining operators.
Such practices risk crowding out private investment, distorting domestic gold purchase prices, and exposing the public treasury to unhedged sovereign financial liabilities.
Foreign trading counterparties, international bullion banks, and ESG-focused global investors require absolute financial transparency; any perception of fiscal engineering at a national gold trading institution severely damages Ghana’s overall credibility across international commodities and capital debt markets.
READ ALSO: Zelenskyy Honors Musk for Starlink Role
