NPP flagbearer wants gold for oil policy to be trashed

A contender at the upcoming New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagbearer election Francis Kwadwo Nsafoa Poku has called for the cancellation of the gold for oil policy by the government. He said the continuation of the policy will cost the nation financially.

According to Mr Poku, “The Gold for Oil Policy was a short-term measure. For some of us, the way the proponents of the policy talked about it, we said it wasn’t possible and it is not possible. You cannot take your gold and go and collect oil from somebody. The right way is to sell your gold to somebody, take that foreign exchange, and go and buy the oil from somebody else, that is the right way.”

Mr Poku added that it is advisable that the Bank of Ghana does not “continue with this policy because indebtedness will occur if we should continue with this policy because there is always debt and losses in the oil trade”.

Also, he revealed that he “wrote a letter to the Bank of Ghana under the Right to Information, and they replied saying that they will be able to adjust because when something goes down or comes up, they will average it”. But he said, “I don’t believe that”.