Former National DRIP Coordinator Nii Lante Vanderpuye has criticised the approach taken by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin in discussing the alleged $1.7 billion GoldBod-related loss recorded in the books of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) where he taunted the GoldBod boss, Sammy Gyamfi, and suggested burdensome bail terms for him upon his future arrest when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regains power.

He said Ofoase Ayirebi Member of Parliament (MP), Kojo Oppong Nkrumah's approach to the issue was better than that of Afenyo-Markin, explaining that while Oppong Nkrumah addressed the matter plainly, Afenyo-Markin made unfounded accusations.

Vanderpuye said GoldBod is a good office of state that must be helped to succeed, and while scrutiny is a necessary part of that support, he stressed it must be done without wild allegations and taunting.

"This is a government institution initiating something which is innovative and we found out some problems with their operations. As good corporate citizens, what we do is to help streamline the activities in order to minimize the losses. That is what I expect every Ghanaian to do, you understand?" he said.

"But when you come out to make accusations which you can't substantiate, it becomes a problem. Pure politics, propaganda. That is what the leader of the minority was doing," he added.

Contrasting the two MPs' approaches

Vanderpuye drew a direct contrast between how the two lawmakers handled the matter.

"Kojo Oppong Nkrumah focused on the operations of the Gold Board vis-à-vis the Bank of Ghana's work and analyzed critically some of the things we said: foreign exchange shortfalls and all those things. He didn't come out to say clearly that Gold Board has made these losses because, even in the IMF report that they are referencing, where in the report did he say Gold Board made those losses?" he said.

It's a loss to the country

Even though Vanderpuye said he wanted the truth of the matter communicated responsibly, he admitted that the source of the loss is not as important as the fact of the loss itself.

"It doesn't matter. It's a loss to the country," he said.