The Acting Managing Director of the Precious Minerals Marketing Corporation (PMMC), Sammy Gyamfi, has recently addressed and clarified misconceptions surrounding the Goldbod Bill, which was recently passed by Parliament and is awaiting the President's assent. In a statement issued, he strongly rejected claims that the Goldbod operates as both a regulator and a commercial entity, suggesting a potential conflict of interest. He stated that the Goldbod is not a dual entity as suggested by critics but rather a monopoly in the trading and export of gold. The regulatory role of the Goldbod pertains only to its licensed agents, ensuring compliance with its Act and regulations, not to competitors in the market. He emphasized that the Goldbod does not regulate its competitors, eliminating the concerns of a conflict of interest. Addressing another critical issue, the Acting PMMC MD also debunked the allegation that the Goldbod Bill would criminalize the possession of gold, even for individuals such as chiefs or regular citizens. He clarified that the Bill does not criminalize the mere act of holding or storing gold. The only offense under the Bill is the "hoarding" of gold, which is defined as the accumulation of gold beyond reasonable business needs, with the intention to manipulate market conditions or create artificial scarcity. He pointed out that Clause 68(2) of the Bill explicitly states that the hoarding provision does not apply to those in possession of gold for personal or value storage purposes. Sammy Gyamfi explained that the primary goal of this provision is to prevent licensed Goldbod agents from hoarding gold to manipulate prices, create scarcity, or engage in unfair competition. He reiterated that the Goldbod Bill does not criminalize the possession of gold for traditional, ancestral, or personal reasons. "What constitutes a crime under the Goldbod Bill (Clause 68 (1)) is the HOARDING of gold. It is worthy of note, that hoarding is not the same as keeping or being in possession of Gold. Clause 68(1) of the Goldbod bill provides: “A person shall not, without lawful authority, HOARD gold without a license or authorization issued by the Gold Board”. Hoard is defined under Clause 74 of the Goldbod Bill as “the accumulation or storage of a gold mining product beyond reasonable business needs, with the purpose of manipulating market conditions or creating artificial scarcity”. More importantly, Clause 68(2) provides that: Subsection (1)- which is the offense creation section on hoarding, “DOES NOT APPLY TO A PERSON IN POSSESSION OF GOLD FOR PERSONAL OR VALUE STORAGE PURPOSES”. The purpose of Clause 68(1) of the Goldbod Bill is to prevent situations where licensed agents of the Goldbod, given funds by the Goldbod to buy gold for the Goldbod, will hoard gold for the purpose of causing scarcity or create unfair competition or manipulate prices, among others". "It is therefore false that the Goldbod Bill criminalizes the possession of gold by a person or Chief. On the contrary, one of the functions of the Goldbod is to promote value addition, particularly, local gold fabrication into coins, tablets, bars and other castings and mints for Ghanaians. One of the reasons for this function is to promote gold as a better store of value than the U.S. dollar with the aim of reducing pressure on the Ghana cedi. Thus, the Goldbod will consciously campaign for Ghanaians to buy gold products such as coins, tablets, tokens etc. for purposes of value storage. The claim that possessing gold for ancestral, traditional or personal reasons constitutes a crime under the GoldBod Bill is totally false," he added. Further, Sammy Gyamfi highlighted that the Goldbod's mission is to promote local gold fabrication, including producing gold coins, bars, and other valuable products for Ghanaians, encouraging the use of gold as a store of value, especially in a bid to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar and support the Ghanaian cedi.