{"id":113767,"date":"2026-02-02T18:05:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=113767"},"modified":"2026-02-02T18:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:05:18","slug":"bright-simon-writes-ghanas-gold-is-trapped-by-a-constipation-of-imagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=113767","title":{"rendered":"Bright Simon writes: Ghana\u2019s gold is trapped by a constipation of imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"
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  1. The story of gold in Ghana (once the \u201cGold Coast\u201d) is the story of missed opportunities.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    2. Opportunities missed due to a constipation of imagination.<\/p>\n

    3. In the Mediaeval world, Ghana was part of the West African belt supplying 60% of the world\u2019s gold. When gold was the source of global wealth.<\/p>\n

    4. By the Renaissance, Ghana\u2019s share was in the 10% range, still mighty.<\/p>\n

    5. In the modern era, it has dropped from a peak near 5% to less than 3% and, due to record high prices, is climbing back up.<\/p>\n

    <\/figure>\n

    6. Though gold is a special commodity, it is still subject to the same value addition constraint that African countries have been grappling with for decades.<\/p>\n

    7. Except that African countries like Ghana have \u201cvalue addition\u201d here totally confused.<\/p>\n

    8. As we in the school of katanomics (www.katanomics.org) like to say: it is not the vision or ambition that endures. It is the detail and stamina of policy.<\/p>\n

    9. Ghana has been pushing bullion refineries for decades, starting in the 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Republic. At one point it had nearly a dozen.<\/p>\n

    10. But in the gold sector, value addition through refining doesn\u2019t save your country. At best you get a 4% markup.<\/p>\n

    <\/figure>\n

    11. What you need is \u201cvalue transformation\u201d if you really want to hit the big leagues. So, jewelry. Because then you would be talking 200% plus markups. But jewelry is all about brand equity. Value can\u2019t be imposed by fiat. Simply stringing some Adinkra symbols along does not brand equity make.<\/p>\n

    <\/figure>\n

    12. True transformation goes beyond even brand equity. It sits in high-knowledge enriched brand equity.<\/p>\n

    <\/figure>\n

    13. A Swiss Watch embodies a whole legacy and ecosystem of knowledge. Gold\u2019s value contribution is less than 5%.<\/p>\n

    <\/figure>\n

    14. It is good that Ghana has kept faith with the ancient plan to turn gold to jewelry. Recently, GoldBod rebranded PMMC Jewelry to GoldBod Jewelry.<\/p>\n

    15. But the policy aspects can be improved massively. There is a need for deep brand equity and knowledge-ecosystem strategy.<\/p>\n

    16. For years, Ghana\u2019s state-owned jeweler couldn\u2019t find 2 kilograms a month for craft. Yet the country exports 2500 kilograms and almost 4000 kilograms a month raw.<\/p>\n

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      17. There are weeks when the craftsmen in the 74-person strong workforce were literally idle.<\/p>\n

      18. Should Ghana look at countries like the Philippines that have used a public-private partnership model to enhance jewelry output? Where the state focuses on investing in knowledge and capacity and leaves the private sector to focus on brand development and marketing?<\/p>\n

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        19. In Ghana, the state-owned GoldBod competes with the private sector as a jeweler, and is also responsible for licensing them. So far, it appears to have licensed less than 10% of the sector.<\/p>\n

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          20. Yet the companies that seem to be pushing forward most aggressively in brand development, like Morgan Touch, are private.<\/p>\n

          <\/figure>\n

          As I said, the devil is in the detail. Overcoming the constipation of imagination that has afflicted Ghana for decades where gold is concerned would require the laxative of anti-katanomic critical thinking.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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