Omanghana
More than 1,460 customers of the defunct Gold Coast Fund Management have died during the eight-year wait for access to their locked-up investments, according to the Convener of the Aggrieved Customers group, Charles Nyame.
Nyame disclosed the figure after the group publicly petitioned President John Dramani Mahama to facilitate the payment of more than GH¢3 billion allegedly owed to affected investors.
Gold Coast Fund Management was later renamed Blackshield Capital Management before its license was revoked during Ghana’s financial-sector cleanup.
According to Nyame, more than 80% of the affected customers are retirees who invested their lifetime savings and pension lump sums with the company.
Many depended on returns from the investments to pay medical bills and meet other essential needs after retirement.
“Over 1,460 of our members being in the retired age are dead and gone. Most of the cases that led to their death could have been resolved if they had access to their monies,” he said.
Nyame attributed some of the deaths to the severe financial hardship experienced by customers who could no longer afford medication, hospital bills and treatment for chronic illnesses after losing access to their funds.
“Since the money is locked up, many of them struggled to pay their medical bills. And that has led to a lot of mortality,” he stated.
The convener said official records showed that more than 140,000 claims had been validated. However, he estimated that the actual number of people affected could exceed 500,000 because some accounts represented families, welfare groups and associations rather than individual investors.
“When you do the calculations, you have over 500,000 directly affected people,” Nyame said.
He disclosed that the group had written at least six letters since July 2025 in an attempt to engage the Ministry of Finance over the outstanding payments.
The customers also sought discussions with the Presidency, but Nyame said those efforts failed to produce a satisfactory resolution.
“We have no other option than to come to the public and petition President Mahama, since he made the promise in public. Maybe petitioning him in public will remind him and make him do the needful,” he explained.
Nyame recalled that the government announced a GH¢1.5 billion payment package for affected customers ahead of the 2024 elections.
The amount was expected to be released in three tranches, beginning with GH¢700 million and followed by two separate payments of GH¢400 million.
According to him, only the initial GH¢700 million was released, leaving the remaining GH¢800 million unpaid. He maintained that more than GH¢3 billion in total outstanding claims was still owed to customers.
The group is also relying on what it described as a campaign promise by President Mahama to settle the outstanding locked-up funds within the first year of his administration without subjecting customers to another prolonged payment arrangement.
The aggrieved investors have given the government until the end of 2026 to address the matter and make adequate provision for the payments in the 2027 National Budget.
“We are just appealing to the President that we have waited long enough; eight years is long enough,” Nyame said.
He argued that customers should not continue bearing the consequences of regulatory and financial-sector failures that were beyond their control.
“The customer must not bear the brunt of this negligence,” he added.
The group is demanding the immediate release of the outstanding funds, warning that further delays will deepen the financial and medical difficulties facing elderly investors and their families.
Source: Omanghana
