According to Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, officials involved in the National Cathedral Project have been approved by the unyielding Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government to receive their September salaries today, September 30, 2024.
He indicated that this amounts to a staggering GHS 2.2 million for 31 months of work with no tangible results.
Hon. Ablakwa stated that these prompt monthly payments are persisting despite significant public outrage following the squandering of US$58.1 million on what has been dubbed the world’s most expensive excavation.
According to him, this excavation has now been transformed into a swimming pool—an apparent endorsement of Bawumia’s upgrade theory.
Furthermore, Ablakwa indicated that there has been no progress on the National Cathedral project since March 2022.
“Even as the anger of Ghanaians reaches boiling point, these over-pampered political appointees of the 31-month-old abandoned National Cathedral project would be smiling all the way to their various banks this morning.
“My unimpeachable tracking of the government’s Integrated Personnel and Payroll Database (IPPD) System confirms that the September 2024 salaries of the following Akufo-Addo Cathedral officials are indeed ready to be paid today: Dr. Paul Opoku Mensah, Rev. Father Ebenezer Saka Ameyaw, and Mrs. Rebecca Lovia Martechoo Yakpo”.
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Ablakwa further disclosed that Dr. Paul Opoku Mensah, the Overseer of the National Cathedral, is receiving this month’s salary of GH₵ 29,838.00 and has been paid uninterrupted since November 7, 2017.
He also noted that Rev. Father Ebenezer Saka Ameyaw, who serves as the Church Relations Manager, will earn GH₵ 20,721.00 this September and has been receiving consistent salaries since January 8, 2021.
Additionally, Mrs. Rebecca Lovia Martechoo Yakpo, the acting Programme Director, is also being paid GH₵ 20,721.00 as September salary and has received uninterrupted salaries since January 8, 2021.
Ablakwa pointed out that effectively, these three top officials of the National Cathedral have been paid continuously over the past 31 months, despite the US$450 million project being abandoned.
“These monthly salary payments over the last 31 months for the Cathedral Top 3 amounts to a staggering GHS2,209,680.00”. – Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Ablakwa Digs Deep into September Salary Disclosures
Furthermore, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa indicated that the GHS 2.2 million allocated for salaries in September only pertains to the monthly compensation for officials involved in the National Cathedral Project.
He emphasized that this amount does not account for other financial releases designated for the National Cathedral Secretariat, nor does it include special allowances granted to the Board of Trustees.
This distinction raises concerns about the total expenditure associated with the project, especially given the ongoing public scrutiny regarding its financial management.
“Causing financial loss to the state has never been this deliberate and blatant. Sadly, this wasteful impunity continues at a time of troubling widespread labour agitations and industrial actions over poor working conditions and unpaid wages.
“Workers who are actually working and sacrificing a great deal for Ghana are being treated shabbily by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government while a few moribund cathedral political appointees are feeding fat at taxpayer expense for no work done in 31 long months”.
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
As such, Hon. Ablakwa indicated that this situation represents the height of injustice and intransigence.
He expressed strong disapproval of the ongoing financial decisions made by the government, which seem to disregard the public outcry and the pressing concerns surrounding the National Cathedral Project.
Ablakwa emphasized that with this latest revelation, those who have been disputing Comrade Malik Basintale’s exposé on Dr. Opoku Mensah’s salaries should now have a clearer understanding and be compelled to believe his claims.
He stated that Malik Basintale was quite generous in his reporting, as he chose not to include the salaries of Dr. Opoku Mensah’s collaborators, which would have further highlighted the extent of the financial implications involved.
“The day of reckoning is fast approaching — there’s hope for Ghana under President Mahama’s Operation Recovery All Loot (ORAL)”. – Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
READ ALSO: Starmer To Tighten Donation Rules
