NewzThe General Overseer of Action Chapel International, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, has raised alarm over what he described as attempts by powerful interests to find new channels into Ghana’s gold trade. According to him, political interference and the continued destruction caused by illegal mining could jeopardise the future of the country. Addressing congregants on Sunday, Archbishop Duncan-Williams called for prayers for the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), saying information he had received from a sheikh, as well as conversations he had held, had left him deeply concerned about the pressures facing the institution.
“I feel very strongly that we need to pray for the Gold Board,” the Archbishop said. He claimed that some individuals who could no longer obtain gold illegally as easily as they had in the past were now seeking ways to access the formal gold-trading system. “With what I was told by this sheikh and the calls I had, they can’t get the gold like before illegally, so they want some channels to the Gold Board so they can purchase the gold now from the Gold Board,” he said.
The Archbishop said he believed GoldBod was confronting a highly organised and influential network. “It’s clear to me that the Gold Board is dealing with a very powerful movement,” he said. He described those behind the alleged interests as “very, very established” people who understand the gold business and know how to operate within the sector.
According to him, the concern was not simply about gold trading but about whether powerful actors were prepared to allow Ghana’s efforts to regulate its mineral resources to succeed. “People very, very established who know and understand the field and how to do this and don’t want the right thing to be done,” he said. “And in the name of politics, we are destroying the future of our children and our grandchildren,” he warned.
He said he was sufficiently concerned about developments in the country that he intended to devote considerable time to prayer and intercession. “I am not speaking as a prophet,” he said. “As much as some may be prophetic, I am speaking as a student of prophecy and a student of history.” The Archbishop expressed particular concern about the state of Ghana’s water bodies and agricultural land, arguing that the environmental consequences of illegal mining could eventually threaten the country’s ability to feed itsel…
He warned that the institution is facing what he described as a “very powerful movement” opposed to efforts to ensure the right thing is done in Ghana’s gold sector. Speaking during a church service on August 16, the Archbishop said some individuals involved in the gold trade have become concerned about the tightening of controls on illegal gold purchases and are now seeking alternative channels to access Ghana’s gold. He said he received calls from individuals in countries where Ghanaian gold was previously purchased through the black market, with some allegedly seeking connections to senior officials who could help them access gold through GoldBod.
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