The Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo has defended his party’s description of the government’s Gold-for-Oil policy as a scam.
He insists, “Let us not close our eyes for someone to use this as a campaign fund”.
The NDC National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketia in his submission of the Party’s “True State of the Nation Address” on Tuesday said the government had hoodwinked Ghanaians with the policy.
Reiterating the point on #3FMSunrise with Jonnie Hughes, the Lawmaker urges; “don’t forget Bawumia is suffocating for funding to campaign [because] the numbers don’t just add up. And as we speak there is no clear clarity. It is so peaked”, he maintains.
“The gold is not for Government, [it] is for Bank of Ghana”, Mr. Adongo says. “Who is paying Bank of Ghana. What is the fallback position of Bank of Ghana. All this must be answered.
“I’m afraid because a man who can’t be trusted for his words is the one we are giving our gold to go and buy oil”, he expresses.
When asked if he has seen the Gold-for-oil Policy document, Mr. Adongo retorted; “from who? I have not seen it. It is in their heads and minds”.
The gold-for-oil initiative is an attempt by the government to move away from the US dollar for international transactions.
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said that the government was highly optimistic that the Gold-for-Oil policy will continue achieving positive results.
Already, he said, the policy was seeing stability in the exchange rate and fuel prices.
Speaking at a forum organized by the Bulk Oil Storage and Transformation (BOST) company in Accra, on Wednesday, March 15, Dr Bawumia said: “The most important aspect of the gold-for-oil policy is not just the reduction in fuel prices, but the most important aspect is the savings in foreign exchange that the Bank of Ghana will make as a result of the lower demand for forex to import oil. That saving is huge. We are currently importing about 50 to 60 percent of oil under this policy, the goal is to move to 100 percent and that will be done this year.”
He added “We have to understand that prices of fuel will go up and will come down but what we expect to see under the Gold-for-Oil policy is more stability in the pricing and also savings in foreign exchange.
“There is more to come, this is the third month of operation of the policy, some people said it will not work, and Ghana doesn’t have enough gold. How can you say that? We have been mining this gold for 200 years, and they keep taking it out and it cannot work for us?