Member of Parliament for Afigya Kwabre North, Collins Adomako-Mensah, has called on the Finance Ministry to bring clarity on the release of monies for the construction of the national cathedral.

Mr Adomako-Mensah however revealed that, he doesn’t have any problem with building an edifice for God. This is because, aside being a place of worship, the cathedral comes with its own tourist attraction for the country.

That notwithstanding, he stated that he is not happy with the revelations coming out on the “amount of money that has been pumped into the construction”.

“My worry is that it’s being serialised; today we hear its GHC20 million, the next day another GHC25 million [and] GHC35 million has been paid to somebody else. I believe very strongly my advice to government is that the finance ministry, as quickly as possible, should come out with a statement to explain to everybody the circumstances surrounding the releases of this money…”
Collins Adomako-Mensah

The MP for Kwabre North expressed that it is important for the “responsible ministry” to as quickly as possible come out to “calm down nerves [because] there’s propaganda going round” and it’s important to settle the matter.

“… All these payments are coming from the finance ministry. I’m not too excited about the way it’s coming into the media… Please ministry of finance, as quickly as possible, bring clarity to this whole process.”
Collins Adomako-Mensah

Judicious use of public funds

On his part, the Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Murtala Mohammed, revealed that for government to put to use public funds, there is the need to go through the appropriate channel in expending monies. He explained that it is high time the constitution and laws governing the country is respected by all.

Mr Murtala stated that once it’s been agreed to chart the path of democracy, there should be no excuse than to absolutely succumb to the dictates of the democratic processes.

“We live in a country that is governed by laws… The law is not a respecter of a person, not even the President. The constitution and the law says that for you to expend a dime of the public’s money, you must have the approval of the entirety of the people of this country…”
Murtala Mohammed

The MP for Tamale Central highlighted that it is also important for government to understand it is holding the “resources of this country in Trust”, as such, it does not necessarily own any money. Citing President Akufo-Addo, he opined that he “never came into office with his money” and the money that he is managing for the good of the people of this country, belongs to Ghanaians and not an individual.

In light of this, Mr Murtala expressed that there is the need to account for monies being used by government.

Prior to this, Law Lecturer at the University of Ghana School of Law, Prof Appiagyei-Atua, revealed that there is no transparency with regard to the National Cathedral project being undertaken by the government. He noted that the required procurement process for the project has not been complied with.

Prof Appaigyei-Atua stated that this is part of the problem where corruption sets in because “you will have a situation where the money can be moved about in a way” that cannot be accounted for.

“We need to look at the question of priorities and make sure we set our priorities right and if we know we cannot set it right, then it means the matter has to go to the people through their representatives in Parliament to decide that.”
Prof Appiagyei-Atua