The news just broke like a mallet on fragile glass last night. Dr. Sledge Nana Yaw Duodu, Chief Executive of Goldridge Refinery Ltd, is now in the custody of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP). He has been detained for failing to meet bail conditions in an investigation into corruption and corruption related offences under the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF).
To many, this may sound like just another corruption story. In truth, it is the peeling back of a rotten ceiling that has been leaking for years. Beneath the jargon of “gold trade programmes” and “commodities stabilization” lies the naked truth: more than 94 million dollars in public wealth may have vanished under Goldridge’s failed trade settlements in the so called Gold for Forex and Gold for Oil schemes. Add to that a 25 million dollar MIIF overdraft facility swallowed without repayment, and we are staring at 119 million dollars in liabilities.
MIIF was not born a rogue scheme. It was established with solemn intent: to manage Ghana’s mineral royalties and build a sovereign wealth fund for future generations. Yet under the cover of legality, its custodians opened the vaults of our national patrimony to a handful of aggregators, with Goldridge at the front of the queue.
From August 2023 to September 2024, MIIF’s Commodities Trading Programme boasted 1.02 billion dollars in gold export inflows. But beneath the glossy reports sat untraceable disbursements. GHC2.2 billion, equivalent to 150 million dollars, was pumped into aggregators without lawful basis. GHC240 million was wasted on AstroTurf pitches and a mining museum while mining communities sank in dust and poverty. GHC84.8 million, about 5 million dollars, was allegedly spent on mining equipment that no one can account for. And GHC1.4 billion, equal to 82 million dollars, was diverted into speculative equity stakes from McDan’s Electrochem to Atlantic Lithium.
The MIIF scandal was not a one man show. Names emerge from the shadows: Legal Manager Nana Serwaa Owusu, Head of Legal and Compliance Daniel Imadi, Chief Investment Officer Bubune Sorkpor, CEO Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, and Board Chair Prof. Douglas Boateng. Together, they presided over an institution that loaned mineral royalties to private companies as if it were a family susu scheme. Let us not forget that the same MIIF machinery once engineered the much hated Agyapa Royalties deal. Different name, same appetite, turning Ghana’s gold into a buffet for the well connected under the Akufo Addo regime.
Even Bulk Oil Distribution Companies, meant to safeguard fuel stability, now find themselves with 30 million dollars stuck in Goldridge’s hands. What was designed as a national strategy to secure forex for oil imports has become an elaborate game of pass the loot. And still, we were told MIIF “stabilized the forex market” and “supported BDCs.” This was the language of technocracy masking tragedy. You cannot stabilize what you are draining. You cannot support the economy by sinking its spine deeper in debt.
This case must not end with Dr. Sledge. It must climb the ladder to the MIIF boardroom, the Ministry of Finance, and all who sanctioned the siphoning of public wealth into private pockets. Where was Parliament when MIIF became a private equity firm with public cash? Where was the Auditor General when royalties for schools and hospitals became seed money for AstroTurfs? Where were the media barons when 94 million dollars slipped away in the name of “gold aggregation”? Today, the OSP holds one man. Tomorrow, it must hold a system.
We have lived this before. We watched Agyapa collapse under citizen resistance, only for its spirit to rise in new forms. We were told every scandal was a sacrifice for future stability. We were told every loss was a “strategy.” But Ghana is not a test lab for elites to experiment with hunger and hope.
Gold is supposed to be our blessing. Yet in the hands of MIIF and its partners, it became the alibi for looting in broad daylight. The people of Ghana must now decide: will we allow this gold to be alchemized into the political dust of another lost decade, or will we demand the full weight of accountability from boardroom to courtroom?
Because if 119 million dollars can disappear under the watch of our mineral fund, then what future are we saving for?
Kay Codjoe
