Energy expert and New Patriotic Party’s communications team member Kojo Poku has defended the previous NPP government’s Gold-for-Oil programme, asserting that every company was screened and certified.
In an interview aired on Joy News on October 4, 2025 Poku noted that all participants in the scheme went through rigorous screening from both the Bank of Ghana and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC).
“Everyone who took part in the gold-for-oil program went through proper due diligence. The Bank of Ghana undertook a KYC(Know Your Customer) and those companies were also taken to the FIC (Financial Intelligence Center) for screening,” he said
Poku further clarified that the Gold-for-Oil initiative was never directly managed by BOST, but was orchestrated by the Ministry of Energy, National Petroleum Authority (NPA), and the Bank of Ghana. with BOST playing only an agent role.
“It was never done on behalf of BOST, the program was run by the Ministry of Energy, the NPA and the Bank of Ghana. BOST was only an agency of the program. It had to write through the relevant bodies to do whatever it wants to do.
This should tell you there was a process in place where some bodies went through due diligence under the FIC and the BoG,” he explained.
He stressed that any problems that may have arisen are isolated to participating companies and not due to structural flaws in the programme itself.
His defense comes amid recent reports by think tank IMANI Africa, which allege a GH¢7.2 billion leakage linked to Gold-for-Oil. Kwadwo Poku strongly disagreed with those claims, criticizing them as unfounded and counterfactual.
In a related commentary, he also insisted that Dr Sledge and the MIIF (Minerals Income Investment Fund) programme are separate from Gold-for-Oil, rejecting attempts to link them together.