Author: Chris Kodo

It has come to light that the Akufo-Addo-led government has spent a colossal amount of GH¢339,003,064.86 for the construction of the National Cathedral as of March 31, 2022.

This was contained in a document from the Ministry of Finance to the parliamentary ad hoc committee after it made a request for the total amount spent on the National Cathedral while probing a censure motion against Mr Ofori-Atta.

Complying with the directive, the Finance Minister gave a detailed breakdown of the amount of money disbursed for the construction of the edifice.

In a document dated November 21, 2022, payment for the national cathedral project can be dated as far back as 2019, when an amount of GH¢445,000 was paid to enable advance mobilisation for consultation work on the design of the edifice.

On February 10, 2022, the government released GH¢ 32,070,103.02 for the payment of consulting services with respect to the design of the National Cathedral.

Again, GH¢ 80,525,461.84 was disbursed for a similar purpose on March 5, 2021. 

The ministry confirmed that, in total, an amount of GH¢113,040,654.86 has been paid to the consulting firm for the construction of the cathedral, Sir David Adjaye and Associates in 2021.

The Ministry also stated that the latest amount spent was ¢25million in March 2022, which was the Government of Ghana’s contribution to the construction of the Cathedral.

Honorary Vice President of  IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has described the amount of money paid to Sir David Adjaye & Associates Ltd for the National Cathedral project as monstrous. 

He argued that the amount paid to the aforementioned company is more than the accepted standard of architectural fee, thus breaching the Ghana Institute of Architecture fee structure.

He has called for a probe into the money paid to the company.

Contradiction of money spent on National Cathedral construction 

The amount spent so far on the construction of the National Cathedral has been a subject of controversy.

Per checks by The Independent Ghana, there have been some discrepancies in the report by the Auditor-General and the Finance Ministry.

The amount pumped into the construction of the National Cathedral in 2021 alone was GH¢ 313,558,064.86, per data provided by the Ministry.

However, the Auditor-General’s report with regard to the Controller and Accountant-General’s financial statements of government operations noted that GH¢142,762,500 was spent on the edifice as of December 2021.

National Cathedral State or Private owned?

The state-of-the-art project is in fulfilment of a pledge President Akufo-Addo made to God before winning the 2016 elections.

As part of efforts to redeem his promise, the government demolished the houses of judges for the construction of the project.

Initially, the project was dubbed as a privately owned entity in which the government was to provide 10% as seed money and provision of land, while the rest of the funding was to be provided by the Church and Ghanaians.

However, Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, disclosed that the project has been funded with taxpayer money.

Mr Ablakwa accused the Finance Minister of “unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in blatant contravention of Article 78 of the 1992 Constitution, supposedly for the construction of the President’s Cathedral.” 

 Amid public scrutiny, the government made a U-turn, describing the cathedral as a state-owned project.

According to Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the project does not belong to President Akufo-Addo.

“National Cathedral is 100 percent owned by the state and is not the president’s cathedral as described by the proponents,” he said when he appeared before the Ad hoc Committee hearing the censure motion against him last Friday.

Commenting on the allegation leveled against him, he insisted that he breached no law in releasing funds for the National Cathedral project.

He added that the monies that have been disbursed for use in the project were from the contingency vault and not the contingency fund, as purported by the minority group. 

He explained that, “ There is a difference between Contingency Fund and Contingency Vault. The Contingency Fund, the Proponents refer to, is what is covered under the Constitution, specifically under article 177. This constitutes money voted by Parliament, and advances from this must be authorised by the Parliamentary Finance Committee.”

On the other hand, the contingency vault, he said, “is a line under the other government obligation vault, which is approved by the Finance Committee and passed as part of the annual Appropriation Act passed by Parliament,” he added.

“In preparing the Annual Budget, provisions are made in the contingency vote to cater for such expenditures. As a Finance Minister, I am fully aware of the approval of the procedures for use of the Contingency Fund and have not breached its requirements,” he continued.

Source: The Independent Ghana