Former Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr Henry Kwabena Kokofu, says Ghana is still benefiting from the Gold-for-Oil policy introduced under former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, despite the change in government.
Dr Henry Kwabena Kokofu described the initiative as a bold and timely intervention that helped Ghana weather severe foreign exchange pressures and volatile global oil prices at the height of the country’s economic turmoil.
“Gold-for-Oil helped Ghana manage its foreign exchange challenges and stabilise fuel prices,” Kokofu said. “That intervention is one of the ideas holding the economy together today.”
The former EPA boss acknowledged that while the policy was introduced during Dr Bawumia’s tenure as Vice President, its dividends are now being enjoyed by a new government.
According to him, the initiative insulated the country from the worst effects of a depreciating cedi and erratic international oil prices, at a time when Ghana’s import bill and debt vulnerabilities threatened economic paralysis.
Kokofu credited what he described as Dr Bawumia’s “economic foresight” for laying the groundwork for current stability in key sectors, insisting that some of the relative calm being witnessed today did not emerge overnight.
“Despite the change in leadership, the policy continues to benefit the nation,” he stressed, suggesting that continuity—not partisan ownership—should guide the assessment of Ghana’s economic interventions.
