The Office of the Special Prosecutor has opened an assessment of extortion allegations levelled against Minority Leader, Honourable Alexander Afenyo-Markin by Ghana Gold Board Chief Executive Sammy Gyamfi. The anti-corruption office disclosed the step in a public notice issued in Accra on Monday, 24 August, hours after Parliament reconvened for an emergency sitting.
Three petitions have reached the office over the allegations, a joint submission from two persons and two others filed separately. The OSP will now decide whether the matter falls within its statutory mandate and, if it does, whether it merits a full investigation.
OSP Stops Short of Opening an Investigation
The notice is carefully worded. The office said it had taken note of the public allegations of extortion and related conduct that Mr Gyamfi made against the Minority Leader, and acknowledged the petitions before it, without endorsing or dismissing any claim.
Given the nature of the allegations, it said, it would assess the case, determine whether it falls within its mandate, and decide “whether further investigative action is warranted.”
The distinction matters.
Under the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959), the office investigates and prosecutes corruption and corruption-related offences involving public officers, a mandate the Supreme Court upheld earlier this year.
An assessment is the screening stage that comes before any formal investigation, and it commits the office to nothing beyond a determination.
How a Gold Dispute Became a Criminal Allegation
The row traces back to the Minority’s questions about losses under the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme. The International Monetary Fund, in its August report on Ghana, put the 2025 loss at more than $1.7 billion, roughly GH¢22 billion, or 1.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product.
Hon. Afenyo-Markin has demanded that GoldBod account for the figure and has pushed for a parliamentary inquiry into it.
Sammy Gyamfi rejects the attribution, insisting the Fund placed the loss on the central bank’s books rather than GoldBod’s, and the exchange turned personal between 17 and 22 August. He described the Minority Leader as an extortionist and dared him to go to court.
United Party Petition Names Six State Institutions
The most detailed of the petitions came from the United Party. Solomon Owusu, its Director of Communications and Spokesperson, and Andrew Appiah-Danquah, its Director of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, filed a joint petition dated 23 August addressed to the Attorney-General, the OSP, the Speaker of Parliament, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department.
They asked the authorities to establish whether Hon. Afenyo-Markin, acting directly or through a third party, sought one million United States dollars from Mr Gyamfi, or any other sum an investigation might uncover.
The petition also cited claims by Eric Adjei, Chief Executive of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme, alleging that a group used Right to Information requests to obtain material from public institutions before deploying it in negotiations. Solomon Owusu and Appiah-Danquah stressed that their filing should not be read as a finding of guilt.
Afenyo-Markin Rejects the Allegations
The Minority Leader has dismissed the claims as false and defamatory, saying his questions flow from his constitutional duty to help Parliament exercise oversight.
Deputy Minority Leader Patricia Appiagyei made the caucus position formal in a statement on 22 August, rejecting the characterisations directed at members and calling instead for GoldBod to appear before a parliamentary inquiry to reconcile the IMF figures with its audited accounts.
Hon. Afenyo-Markin has not sued.
He also moved on Monday to correct a report suggesting he had been summoned over the matter, describing the meeting in question as a routine caucus gathering he convened ahead of the House resuming.
Pressure Builds as Parliament Sits
Parliament returned on Monday for a five-day emergency sitting recalled by Speaker Alban Bagbin under Order 58(4) of the Standing Orders, running through Friday, 28 August. The Minority intends to use the window to press for a formal inquiry into the gold programme, and the OSP’s assessment now runs alongside that push, holding the caucus leader’s own conduct up for scrutiny while he presses the government over the loss.
How quickly the office reaches a determination will shape whether the dispute stays political or hardens into a criminal file.
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