Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called on the Board of Trustees of the the building of the national cathedral to render complete account of monies used so far in its construction.
According to him, the board should focus on being transparent in its spending rather than asking for more. He revealed that it is absolutely “incredible that with the avalanche of scandals which cannot even fit into the world’s most expensive pit as infamously created in central Accra by the controversial cathedralists”, the Board now has the audacity to be demanding US$100 million to import steel.
“Instead of the outrageous demand for US$100million to import steel, the Board of Trustees should be explaining to Ghanaians why only a measly 37.9% of taxpayer funds went into actual construction much against industry best practice. They should be rendering full account of how all the categories of funds raised locally and internationally have been used; and how they still managed to create the world’s most expensive pit.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
In any case, the North Tongu legislator noted that per the Board’s own “sordid” track record, there is no guarantee that if they are ever given US$100 million, all that money will be used for its advertised purpose.
He highlighted that Ghanaians will be shocked to discover this morning that out of the US$58.14 million of public funds “unconstitutionally withdrawn without parliamentary approval” for Akufo-Addo’s cathedral project, only a fraction of US$22.07 million went to the contractors, RIBADE JV for actual construction.
“Ghanaians are not angry enough… According to documents submitted to Parliament when we demanded a detailed breakdown of how the US$58.14million (GHS339,003,064.86) was spent, the contractors provided comprehensive analysis of how they utilized the US$22.07million received between January 2021 and February 2022 when they had to suspend work for “lack of funds” even though far more money had been released from government coffers, albeit on the blindside of Parliament.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Government’s spending on national cathedral
Elaborating further on government’s spending, Mr Ablakwa stated that out of the US$58.14 million of taxpayer funds wrongfully released for Akufo-Addo’s cathedral, more than US$36 million was expended on other items other than their core function of construction. By implication, he stated that only a paltry 37.9% of total public funds released was handed over to the contractors.
“I must add, however, that many experts agree that the contractors equally have serious questions to answer as what they have delivered with US$22.07 million is extremely suspicious. One needs to consider that the US$58.1 million in issue, represents only taxpayer funds.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Furthermore, Mr Ablakwa explained that other categories such as donations from churches, corporate institutions, SOEs, His Eminence the Chief Imam, many other individuals and their “opaque fundraising operations” in the USA have all not been added to the monies expended by government. Coupled with this, he explained that owners of the multiple structures demolished are still waiting to be compensated, while others are in court demanding justifiable compensation.
“It is also imperative to state that contrary to the mendacious claims by Executive Director, Dr. Paul Opoku Mensah on Okay FM that: ‘two floors have already been constructed underground’, the contractors, RIBADE JV, report to Parliament that they have only carried out excavations.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Moreover, Mr Ablakwa underscored that field visits to the site do not also show completed underground floors, as all they have seen is a “massive pit in the centre of the city” as the venerable Bishop Dag Heward-Mills put it in his famous resignation letter. In light of this, he noted that transparency and truth have never been in such short supply when it comes to the the cathedral construction.
