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Adoboli Defends BoG’s US$1.7bn Gold Programme Losses

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Adoboli Defends BoG’s US$1.7bn Gold Programme Losses

Financial analyst Kweku Adoboli has defended the Bank of Ghana’s $1.7 billion gold programme losses, calling them a necessary cost of stabilising the cedi rather than mismanagement.

Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Thursday, Adoboli, a Ghanaian financial analyst and former investment banker, said the losses under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP) amounted to 17% of the value of doré gold sold by the central bank, a figure confirmed in the IMF’s 2026 Article IV Consultation report published this week. The Fund said the programme’s losses rose from about $400 million in 2024 to more than $1.7 billion in 2025, equivalent to about 1.5% of GDP.

Adoboli said the programme was introduced to curb gold smuggling, which the IMF estimates cost Ghana about 229 tonnes of artisanal gold, worth roughly $11.4 billion, between 2019 and 2024. He said most of the losses stemmed from the gap between the central bank’s official exchange rate and the higher forex bureau rates used to buy gold from small-scale miners. “About 83% of the total cost was the foreign exchange slippage,” he said, arguing the pricing was deliberately structured to draw miners away from smugglers and toward the Ghana Gold Board.

“I don’t think it’s a result of bad financial management,” Adoboli said, adding that policy should now focus on narrowing the gap between the official and market exchange rates to cut future costs.

On the central bank’s negative equity, which the IMF report puts at 6.7% of GDP by the end of 2025, Adoboli said the position reflects the Bank of Ghana’s role as a shock absorber through the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme and the gold purchase initiative. He said negative equity does not stop the central bank from functioning but leaves it more exposed to external shocks, reinforcing the case for recapitalisation.

Adoboli welcomed the transfer of the gold purchase programme from the central bank to GoldBod, saying it would move the costs onto the Finance Ministry’s balance sheet and force disclosure through the annual budget process. “It doesn’t change the risks; it just increases the transparency,” he said.

Lawyers Object to Vacation Trials for Adu-Boahene, Wahab

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Lawyers Object to Vacation Trials for Adu-Boahene, Wahab

Lawyers for Kwabena Adu-Boahene and Hanan Abdul-Wahab have separately petitioned the Chief Justice, objecting to holding their criminal trials during the court’s legal vacation.

In separate letters dated August 5, the legal teams said proceeding with the trials during the recess departs from established practice under which High Court cases are ordinarily heard during the regular legal term, except in limited circumstances. Both teams have told the Chief Justice they will not attend hearings scheduled during the vacation.

Adu-Boahene, former Director-General of the National Signals Bureau, is standing trial alongside two others in a case in which prosecutors allege he stole GH¢49.1 million from a government bank account. His lawyer, Samuel Atta Akyea, wrote to the Chief Justice objecting to a directive instructing the trial judge to proceed with the part-heard case during the recess, with hearings scheduled for August 11 to 13. Atta Akyea said the direction would require defence lawyers “to work beyond the legal year and during the legal vacation, while other lawyers rest.”

Abdul-Wahab, former chief executive of the National Food Buffer Stock Company, is being prosecuted separately over alleged irregularities linked to the School Feeding Programme. His lawyer, former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame, said the trial judge had informed the parties that authorisation had been granted for the case to be heard during the vacation and advised that objections be directed to the Chief Justice. Dame argued that since the trial had not begun before the vacation started, it should not be listed for hearing during the recess.

Both defence teams argue that no exceptional circumstances exist to justify departing from the normal court calendar. The objections add a procedural dispute to two of the country’s highest-profile corruption cases, with the outcome depending on whether the Chief Justice or the trial courts respond to the concerns before proceedings resume.

Serwah Urges State of Emergency Over Galamsey

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Serwah Urges State of Emergency Over Galamsey

Eco-Conscious Citizens Executive Director Awula Serwah has urged President Mahama to consider a state of emergency on illegal mining, marking one year since the Brofoyedru helicopter crash.

Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Thursday, Serwah said the country should honour not only the eight officials who died in the crash but also the wider toll of illegal mining, citing children who have died falling into abandoned pits, journalists assaulted while covering the industry, and police officers killed during enforcement operations. “Water is life. We are being poisoned. Our water bodies are being polluted and our forest reserves have been decimated,” she said.

Serwah pointed to President Mahama’s own admission in March that people affiliated with the governing National Democratic Congress are involved in illegal mining, and asked what action had followed. The Attorney-General ordered an investigation into NDC-linked officials over the issue last year; the Amansie Central District Chief Executive was among those implicated, though no action against him has been made public.

She welcomed the government’s recent revocation of Executive Instrument 144, which had declassified about 361 acres of the Achimota Forest Reserve for return to its customary owners, calling it a step in the right direction but insisting enforcement, not policy announcements, would determine whether the campaign succeeds. “Out of the arrests, how many have been prosecuted and convicted?” she asked.

Government figures show the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat carried out 200 operations across 53 districts between January and June 2026, arresting 207 suspects and seizing dozens of excavators, though officials have not published corresponding data on how many of those arrests led to prosecutions or convictions, the specific gap Serwah’s question points to.

Serwah called for the prosecution of all those involved in illegal mining, including politicians, financiers and traditional leaders who enable the practice, citing the community of Jemaa as an example of chiefs and residents successfully blocking illegal mining through local vigilance. “That is the best way to honour every person who has died fighting illegal mining,” she said.

NPP Stages ‘Democracy Under Attack’ March Thursday

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NPP Stages ‘Democracy Under Attack’ March Thursday

The opposition NPP is staging a nationwide “Democracy Under Attack” demonstration in Accra on Thursday, accusing the government of political persecution and selective justice.

Organisers say the march will begin at the Community Centre opposite the Supreme Court, proceed along the Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel Road, past the Efua Sutherland/Ridge Roundabout and the Ako Adjei Interchange, and end at Jubilee House. Three separate petitions are planned: one to the Chief Justice at the Supreme Court, one to President John Dramani Mahama at Jubilee House, and a third delivered separately to the Speaker of Parliament. NPP National Organiser Henry Nana Boakye said police have been notified and have agreed security arrangements for the route.

Among the issues the party cites is the Court of Appeal’s July 30 decision to acquit and discharge former Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) chief executive Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu, overturning a 10-year sentence imposed in April 2024 on 78 counts including stealing and causing financial loss to the state. The appellate court ruled the prosecution had not proven its case beyond reasonable doubt and found the trial judge had lost sight of the presumption of innocence. Attorney-General Dominic Akuritinga Ayine has since directed the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal that acquittal, a step that runs counter to suggestions the case reflects leniency toward a politically connected figure.

The NPP has also cited what it describes as the arbitrary arrest, detention and harassment of some of its members by state investigative and security agencies, which it alleges is politically motivated. The government has not publicly responded to these specific allegations.

The protest has drawn criticism from Franklin Cudjoe, president of the policy think tank IMANI Africa, who argued on social media that the NPP could not credibly claim to defend democracy without accounting for its own record in government. Cudjoe, who has repeatedly praised the Mahama administration’s economic management in recent months and was appointed in August to a government-linked United Nations steering committee, said “no serious CSOs will be fooled” by the demonstration.

The demonstration, which has also drawn expressions of solidarity from the People’s National Party, is expected to draw thousands of NPP supporters, executives and sympathisers, with the party describing it as a constitutional appeal rather than an act of confrontation.

A Rocha: Galamsey Fight Failed Crash Victims

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A Rocha: Galamsey Fight Failed Crash Victims

A Rocha Ghana’s Daryl Bosu says Ghana has failed to honour the eight officials killed in last year’s helicopter crash, arguing illegal mining remains largely unchecked.

Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Thursday, the anniversary of the crash, Bosu, Deputy Country Director of the conservation group A Rocha Ghana, recalled that he was at the Obuasi venue where the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme was due to launch when news broke that the Ghana Air Force helicopter carrying the officials had gone down. Eight people died in the crash, including then-Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and then-Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, who were travelling to the launch.

“A year on, we see that the menace of galamsey is very much rife across the country,” Bosu said, arguing that the commitments made in the tragedy’s aftermath have not materialised.

Drawing on recent visits to mining communities in the Ashanti and Eastern regions, Bosu said illegal miners continue to operate openly in rivers and forest reserves. “It’s just devastating,” he said, describing the impunity with which excavators operate in broad daylight, often near police checkpoints.

He acknowledged reports of arrests and equipment seizures but argued they have not translated into measurable improvements on the ground, calling the government’s approach largely performative. “We are claiming, just by optics, pretending we are fighting this,” he said.

Bosu also called for greater scrutiny of traditional leaders, arguing that chiefs in communities where illegal mining thrives often enable the practice and should face investigation and prosecution. He said the country needs to “actively start prosecuting those traditional authorities who are aiding and abetting galamsey.”

The government has pointed to a range of measures over the past year, including the deployment of more than 1,600 “Blue Water Guards,” coordinated operations across 21 mining hotspots under the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), and the reclamation of about 800 acres of galamsey-affected land. President John Mahama has acknowledged mistakes, including the early withdrawal of security forces from cleared forest reserves, and has pledged a larger budget for permanent troop deployment to mining hotspots.

Bosu’s remarks came as the opposition New Patriotic Party also called on the government to account for progress on the anti-galamsey campaign and to update the public on the investigation into the helicopter crash, ahead of Wednesday’s anniversary. Bosu said public confidence would ultimately depend on measurable outcomes rather than official statements, describing the state of the country’s rivers as still “very polluted.”

RTI Commission Fines 254 Institutions Over Reports

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RTI Commission Fines 254 Institutions Over Reports

Ghana’s Right to Information Commission has fined 254 public institutions, including the Armed Forces and the Office of the Special Prosecutor, GH¢20,000 each for missing a statutory reporting deadline.

The Commission said the institutions, spanning Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), failed to submit their 2025 RTI Annual Reports despite reminders published in the Ghanaian Times on January 20 and the Daily Graphic on April 24. The sanctions were imposed under Section 77(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989), which requires public institutions to file annual reports within 60 days of each year’s end detailing how many information requests they received, approved, rejected and why.

Among the defaulters are several security and intelligence bodies, including the Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Navy, Ghana Air Force, Bureau of National Intelligence, Ghana Police Service and the Office of the Special Prosecutor. Also listed are five teaching hospitals, Korle-Bu, Komfo Anokye, Tamale, Cape Coast and Ho, along with major public universities including the University of Ghana, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and the University of Cape Coast. Regulatory bodies such as the National Petroleum Authority, the Minerals Commission, the National Communications Authority and Ghana Grid Company were also fined.

The Commission said the reports it collects from institutions feed directly into its own consolidated Annual Report to Parliament, and that the statutory deadline for submitting that report had already passed by the time the penalties were issued. “Compliance with the reporting requirements under Act 989 is a statutory obligation and not a matter of discretion,” the Commission said in its statement.

Defaulting institutions have 14 days from receiving formal notice to pay the GH¢20,000 penalty, or face further enforcement action under the Act.

The penalties add to a series of RTI enforcement actions this year. In February, the Commission fined the Ghana Education Service, the National Pensions Regulatory Authority, the Economic and Organised Crime Office and a private school a combined GH¢220,000 over separate complaints, with individual penalties ranging from GH¢10,000 to GH¢100,000. In March, the National Service Authority was ordered to pay more than GH¢159,000 after refusing to release information requested by a media organisation, following what the Commission described as a pattern of stalling.

GACL Launches Hotline to Curb Airport Extortion

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GACL Launches Hotline to Curb Airport Extortion

Ghana Airports Company Limited has introduced a reporting hotline and mystery shoppers to crack down on extortion by airport personnel, following a stakeholder meeting on August 5.

Under the plan, GACL said individuals found engaging in extortion, commonly described at the airports as “begging,” will be identified through a mystery shopping initiative and publicly named through media channels. Staff found culpable face disciplinary sanctions and may be barred from working in airport environments.

Passengers can report incidents through a dedicated hotline, 0542175636, reachable by call, WhatsApp or SMS, and are asked to provide the date, time, officer’s name, agency involved and location of the incident. GACL said the reporting mechanism covers personnel across a wide range of agencies operating at the airports, including the Ghana Immigration Service, the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, the Ghana Police Service, National Security, the Narcotics Control Commission, car park attendants, concessionaires and private security companies. GACL urged passengers to demand official identification from anyone requesting payment before engaging with them, and said the initiative supports its ambition of positioning Ghana as “the Preferred Aviation Hub and Leader in Airport Business in West Africa.”

The crackdown follows separate findings by fact-checking organisation DUBAWA that raise broader questions about accountability at GACL-operated airports. An investigation published in June found that several luggage-wrapping companies operating at Kotoka International Airport and Kumasi’s Prempeh I International Airport had issued receipts missing tax identification numbers and tax components, in apparent breach of Ghana Revenue Authority regulations, while GACL itself said it had no comprehensive data on how much luggage had been wrapped or checked in at its airports. The Ghana Revenue Authority told DUBAWA that only one of seven wrapping companies operating at Terminal 3 was up to date with its tax obligations, with several not registered with the authority at all.

That investigation concerned tax compliance among airport concessionaires rather than extortion of individual passengers, but both cases point to a similar underlying gap in how GACL tracks and holds accountable the range of companies and personnel operating at its airports. Whether the new hotline and mystery shopping programme extend that scrutiny to concessionaires as well as uniformed personnel remains unclear.

Ghanaian Students Reject AI Bans, Study Finds

Roger A. Agana
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Ghanaian Students Reject AI Bans, Study Finds

Most Ghanaian university students oppose banning generative AI tools like ChatGPT and want formal regulation instead, according to a new study of student attitudes across the country.

The study, led by researchers at Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) in Kumasi and published in the International Journal of Applied Research in Business and Management, found that generative AI has become widely normalised in Ghanaian students’ academic work, with most respondents reporting they had already used it. Students largely described AI as a complementary tool that improves efficiency, feedback and access to learning, while still valuing human instructors as central to meaningful education.

Researchers Francis Iddris, Sulemana Abdul-Rahaman Mohammed and Juliet Acheampong found female students reported more favourable views of AI’s academic usefulness than male students, though concerns about over-reliance, fairness and the risk of AI replacing educators were shared across genders. The authors said the findings extend AI-in-education research, most of which has focused on Western universities, to a Ghanaian and wider African context.

Separate research reflects a similar pattern elsewhere in Ghanaian higher education. A study of doctoral students and academic instructors at the University of Ghana found that generative AI tools were helping improve literature reviews, data analysis and teaching preparation, though instructors and students interviewed also raised ethical concerns about proper use. A larger survey of more than 2,000 undergraduates at West End University College found similar familiarity with AI tools, alongside practical barriers including limited internet connectivity, outdated technology and financial constraints that shape which students can use the tools consistently.

The findings add empirical weight to a debate playing out on campuses worldwide over whether institutions should restrict AI tools or teach students to use them critically. Ghana’s own research suggests most students have already made that choice themselves, using AI regardless of official policy, leaving universities to decide whether to regulate that use or continue treating it as prohibited.

S&P Validates ShafDB’s Green Bond Framework

Roger A. Agana
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S&P Validates ShafDB’s Green Bond Framework

S&P Global Ratings has confirmed that Shelter Afrique Development Bank’s sustainable finance framework meets international green and social bond standards, ahead of planned bond issuances in West and East Africa.

The rating agency’s Second-Party Opinion found the framework aligned with the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles, Social Bond Principles and Sustainability Bond Guidelines, as well as the Loan Market Association’s Green and Social Loan Principles. The framework was developed with technical support from the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) through its Global Trust Fund for Sustainable Finance, working with Luxembourg’s government.

The validation precedes ShafDB’s planned FCFA 60 billion sustainable bond programme in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) region and a proposed US$500 million East Africa multi-currency bond programme. Proceeds are earmarked for affordable and socially inclusive housing, green residential buildings, energy- and water-efficient housing, and climate-resilient housing infrastructure.

Managing Director Thierno-Habib Hann said the opinion “reflects and further confirms our alignment with international best practices,” and credited GGGI and other partners for their support.

ShafDB, a pan-African multilateral development bank headquartered in Nairobi and owned by 44 African governments alongside the African Development Bank and Africa Reinsurance Corporation, has been rebuilding its balance sheet and credit standing since a governance and financial restructuring that began in 2023. The bank reported a comprehensive profit of $2.14 million for 2025, up 20% from the previous year, on total assets of about $235 million, and saw loan disbursements rise 162% to $63 million. Credit rating agency GCR Ratings upgraded ShafDB in July, to AAA on its Kenya and Nigeria national scales and B+ with a positive outlook on its international scale.

The sustainable bond framework follows ShafDB’s rebrand from Shelter Afrique to Shelter Afrique Development Bank at its June annual meeting in Rabat, part of a broader push to formalise its status as a multilateral development bank and diversify its funding beyond traditional shareholder capital into international capital markets.

AI Stocks Swing Sharply as Bubble Fears Grow

Roger A. Agana
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AI Stocks Swing Sharply as Bubble Fears Grow

Sharp swings in AI-related stocks this week, including a 14% SpaceX plunge despite strong earnings, are testing investor confidence as bubble concerns climb to a new high.

SpaceX shares fell as much as 14% this week after posting strong second-quarter earnings, coinciding with the release of roughly $101 billion worth of shares becoming eligible for trading following the company’s June IPO lockup expiration. The stock has now lost more than $1 trillion in market value since its record-setting June debut, trading well below its IPO price.

The swing followed a similar pattern at SK Hynix, which posted record quarterly revenue, up 257% year-on-year with a 76% operating margin, and still saw its shares fall roughly 9% on the earnings call. Nvidia shares dropped 5% in late July after reports it was in talks to guarantee up to $250 billion in financing for a data-centre lease tied to OpenAI, alongside a separate $350 billion financing discussion, briefly pushing its market capitalisation below Apple’s for the first time in over a year.

Concern about an AI bubble has climbed sharply among institutional investors. Bank of America’s July Global Fund Manager Survey found 45% of respondents now cite an AI bubble as the market’s biggest tail risk, up from 28% the previous month, overtaking inflation as the top concern.

Nigel Green, chief executive of the financial advisory firm deVere Group, said the pattern shows markets no longer giving AI-linked companies “the benefit of the doubt just because they are spending heavily.” He argued that strong earnings failing to prevent SpaceX’s 14% drop signals investors have already concluded that headline growth alone is no longer enough to support valuations.

Green pointed to a widening gap between companies with orders tied to measurable component demand, citing Cisco’s raised 2026 revenue guidance of $62.8 billion to $63 billion on data-centre orders, and those whose growth increasingly rests on vendor financing arrangements between suppliers and their own customers. He said investors should weigh balance-sheet exposure to financing guarantees and debt, not just growth rates, pointing to the combined $725 billion in 2026 capital expenditure now planned by Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, up 77% from about $410 billion in 2025.

Green said investors should expect volatility around individual companies’ earnings dates rather than a steady market trend, noting that AI-linked stocks have moved 5% to 10% or more in single sessions this year on financing-related news alone. His comments reflect one advisory firm’s reading of a market that remains divided: the same BofA survey also found a similar share of fund managers still do not consider AI stocks to be in bubble territory.

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