The North Tongu MP doesn’t seem to be stopping his critiques of the National Cathedral’s building anytime soon.
He continues to maintain that, the project is needless and that the desire by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to continue with its building ought to be immediately reconsidered.
The legislator simply puts it, the “Cathedral revolution is long past”.
Mr. Ablakwa is not very much convinced by assertions that, building a Cathedral will spare the country of civil war.
He believes, it will rather be more appropriate to have a culture of honesty and Christian values which do not require a structure for such a purpose.
“Ivory Coast put up a very flamboyant Cathedral. Sadly, it did not stop them from suffering a civil war and conflicts. We are New Testament Christians. Let’s go back to pure and true Christian theology.”
“That doctrine is that, the Holy Ghost has been left with us, he resides in us, and our body is the temple of the Lord. So we should rather put emphasis on personal values and integrity. We are not in the Old Testament where it was about buildings. If you look at the international arena now, we are very late. The era of Cathedrals which shows that you have arrived as a country – the Cathedral revolution is long past”, the MP said.
According to Mr. Ablakwa his campaign to expose the infractions in the ongoing construction is not to run down the Christian community but rather, for the greater good of the nation.
“Let’s be clear, this is not an agenda against the Church. I am not seeking to bring down a religion that I will be nobody without. I have said time without number that where will I be without Christianity? I believe in the saving power, salvation, and grace of Jesus Christ. I am not a pagan or anti-Christ”, he emphasized in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Face to Face on Citi TV.
He further makes the point, no attempts must be made to continue committing public funds and the little state resources to the project in these crucial times.
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has reacted to calls for a deferment and an audit of the National Cathedral of Ghana project.
The call was made by Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams and Rev. Eastwood Anaba, with a core reason for their call being the many controversies that have dogged the project in recent times.
Ablakwa described the call by the duo, who are members of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral, as a sign of “exemplary Christ-like leadership, wisdom & integrity worthy of high praise.”
His post on Twitter read: “Profound commendations to Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams and Rev. Eastwood Anaba for their principled and patriotic position on the scandal-dominated National Cathedral project. Exemplary Christ-like leadership, wisdom & integrity worthy of high praise. Ghana first.”
Accra-based Joy FM published a memo dated January 23, sent to the Board of Trustees, calling essentially for a halt and an independent audit of the project’s expenditures.
“That in the spirit and cause of transparency and accountability to the Ghanaian people, the current Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral shall appoint an independent, nationally recognised accounting firm to audit all public funds contributed to and spent by the National Cathedral.
“Auditors will also audit the overall cost of the project. This appointment of an auditor shall take place before the deferment of activities of the Board of Trustees,” excerpts of the memo said.
The National Cathedral project has been in the news recently for not too good reasons, as a result of a myriad of allegations levelled by Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, against the Board and its secretary, Rev. Kusi Boateng.
Ablakwa has exposed instances of public funds being put into the project, which government confirms is to the tune of GHC339 million cedis. He has recently questioned some payments made by the cathedral, but the secretariat insists all transactions were above board.
Pastor for Harvest Chapel International, Reverend Edward A. Randolph-Koranteng has said that if the building of the National Cathedral is inspired by God, no man or entity can stop it.
According to him, the wrath of God was incurred on the Babylonians when they tried to construct a powerful city and a tower “with its top in the skies” to establish their own reputation.
He explained that God kicked against their ill-motivated vision and confused their language and placed the responsibility to trust God to do his will in this critical national agendum.
“If the National Cathedral is being built for the right reasons and is being inspired by God, then neither a mortal nor another entity can stop it from happening.”
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the Reverend noted “however, it will be a fruitless endeavor if it is not from God and would also be completed regardless of protest or how long it takes to finish if the building is of God, despite whatever opposition it may face and any allegations of scandals that may be connected to it.”
Building a National Cathedral can be difficult, as is being experienced now in Ghana, and such difficulties are nothing new.
He cited how the construction of St. Peter’s in Rome, which is considered the pinnacle of the high Renaissance, was marked by both the splendor and scandal of the time as referred in the (pages. [281]-284) of BASILICA by R.A. Scotti).
The most revered monument in Europe, the 2,000-year-old St. Peter’s Basilica constructed by Emperor Constantine over the apostle’s tomb, was destroyed in 1506 so that a greater Basilica could be constructed by the fiercely ambitious Renaissance Pope Julius II.
For two centuries, 27 popes, and the creativity of the finest painters of their time; Michelangelo, Bramante, Raphael, and Bernin were expended on the building of the new St. Peter’s while, Modern Rome also rose, as glorious as the city of the Caesars, as the Basilica did.
Rev Randolph-Koranteng said the Protestant Reformation was sparked by the new Basilica, dividing the Christian world for all time, but at an inconceivable cost.
He continued saying “let’s stay calm… do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Two respected clerics who are also board members of the National Cathedral project have demanded the immediate suspension and audit of the project.
The two; Archbishop Duncan Williams and Reverend Eastwood Anaba say their call is based on the controversies surrounding the project.
According to them, the suspension will pave the way for transparency and accountability to be provided to the Ghanaian people.
In a memo sent to the Board of Trustees on Monday, January 23, and sighted by MyJoyOnline.com, they called for independent audit into the expenditures of the project.
The two respected preachers said the auditor(s) must be one that is nationally recognised.
“That in the spirit and cause of transparency and accountability to the Ghanaian people, the current Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral shall appoint an independent, nationally recognised accounting firm to audit all public funds contributed to and spent by the National Cathedral.
“Auditors will also audit the overall cost of the project. This appointment of an auditor shall take place before the deferment of activities of the Board of Trustees,” excerpts of the memo said.
Meanwhile, the two Bible scholars also said the project should only continue until the economic conditions in the country improve.
“That current activities advancing the construction of Ghana’s National Cathedral shall be deferred until the atmospherics in Ghana are improved and the audit of the Cathedral account is done,” excerpts of the memo added.
The National Cathedral Project has been one of the most controversial public issues since the project was first announced by President Akufo-Addo.
Apart from questions of accountability which have been repeatedly raised by the Minority in Parliament, there have also been concerns about the relevance of the project, in the face of the country’s economic crisis.
Amidst the plethora of issues, founder of the LightHouse Chapel International, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, resigned from the Cathedral’s Board of Trustee in August 2022.
In so doing, the preacher did not assign any specific reason for his departure; leaving the public to rely on their own conjectures and speculations about why the celebrated man of God left the scene.
However, after five months of his resignation, the Bishop’s justifications for exiting the Board have been revealed.
The seasoned Bible teacher noted in his resignation letter which appears to have been leaked recently that his unresolved concerns about the cost of the National Cathedral and other pertinent issues triggered his exit.
The said letter was addressed by the Bishop to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral.
“I feel that the treatment of the issues I have raised in my several letters has been unfortunate. My letters have been ignored in the past; not attended to for years, and at best addressed flippantly”, Dag Heward-Mills said.
“You may recall I have spoken passionately and written extensively about the costs, the design, the location, the fundraising, the mobilization of the churches, and the role of the trustees.
“These, if heeded, would have made our project more achievable. Generally speaking, my inputs, my opinions, and my letters have been trivialized and set aside”, portions of the letter further disclosed.
Daniel Yaw Domelevo, the former Auditor-General has expressed disquiet about the use of state funds on the construction of the National Cathedral.
According to him, since the concept of the project stems from Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s promise to God for making him president, the funding should be from his coffers not through state funds.
In a Joy News interview, Daniel Domelevo also criticized how the Ministry of Finance used funds from the Contingency Vote to finance portions of the project.
In the wisdom of Domelevo, the practise was illegal and untenable and must be condemned by all.
“I find the expenditure for that transaction very unfortunate. At no point should we be using public funds to fund individual people’s needs or desires. If the president desires to build a cathedral for God, he should go ahead and use his money not public funds. Even if he wants to use public funds, the constitution has laid down procedure for the use of public funds especially from the Consolidated Funds. Article 1 states that it must be in the budget approved by Parliament,” he said.
The National Cathedral has been fraught in endless controversies with the latest allegation being wrongful payment made to Reverend Kusi Boateng, a member of the cathedral’s Board of Trustees.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu is on a crusade to expose what he views as wrongful payment of state funds to certain individuals and organizations concerned with the construction of the Cathedral.
After an initial allegation that a whopping GH¢2.6 million was dished out to a company named JNS Talent Centre Limited, Ablakwa embarked on a mission to discover the persons behind the company.
Ablakwa’s investigations into the alleged payment led to the discovery of one Kwabena Adu Gyamfi as a director of JNS Talent Centre.
Having confirmed the identities of two out of three directors of the centre, Ablakwa went on an expedition to discover the identity of the third director, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
According to his findings, citing a number of statutory documents, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is the same as Reverend Kusi Boateng, who has allegedly been operating under the pseudonym Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
In an explosive set of allegations which he describes as the Tsar Bomba of all scandals, Ablakwa claimed that Reverend Kusi Boateng holds multiple passports and identification cards with some bearing the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
“You will recall that in my earlier exposé of the scandalous GHS2.6million cash transfer from the National Cathedral Secretariat to JNS Talent Centre Limited, I pointed out that incorporation documents reveal that the three directors of JNS Talent Centre Limited are Johannes Eshun, Sheila Eshun and Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
“I also later revealed that Rev. Johannes Eshun is a branch pastor of National Cathedral Executive Council Member/Director, Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng’s Power Chapel Worldwide.
“Hitherto, the third director—Mr. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi has remained a mystery figure.
“I am now able to reveal the true identity of this mystery director of JNS, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
“Definitely, the code has finally been cracked and it shocks to the marrow!
“Unimpeachable and incontrovertible evidence confirms that Mr. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is the famous Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng who still serves on the National Cathedral Board as an Executive Council Member/Director.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no distinct Kwabena Adu Gyamfi. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is a criminal creation of Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng. The two are therefore one and the same.
“Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi thought he had outwitted every Ghanaian, particularly our authorities whom he dribbled for many years; but the day of reckoning is finally here.
“From unassailable and irreproachable documents in my possession, Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi uses multiple passports and multiple identification cards with different names and different dates of birth as his special modus operandi,” he wrote on Facebook.
In 2021, the Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral Secretariat, Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng, provided explanations on why there was the need for Ghana to build the national edifice.
Speaking in an interview with JoyNews, the preacher, who has recently been at the center of a lot of controversies, said that the building of a National Cathedral goes beyond a religious act.
He explained that the building of the edifice will bring a lot of economic benefits to the country, including boosting the tourism sector.
“We can go beyond the cathedral, into using this particular opportunity of being trusted by the president to, in a way, translate it into religious tourism. In this time and age of this nation, I don’t know why it is wrong for us to bring dynamism or for us to really come up with a concept that will be nothing short of religious tourism.
“What we are doing goes beyond building a church. What we are doing… you realise will bring a lot of air traffic (sic)… but it is a venture that will translate the purposes of our desire for revolution in our tourism industry,” he said.
Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng also explained that the economic benefits of the building to the nation are necessary, much as it will be historic.
“And so, at this time, in the history of this nation, we need such a thing. Besides its spiritual significance, we can never underestimate its economic benefits this nation will get,” he explained.
Rev. Kusi Boateng has recently been accused by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, of a conflict of interest in business transactions undertaken by the National Cathedral Secretariat and the JNS Talents Centre, which runs a crèche at Dawhenya.
According to the MP, the company, which he later revealed was owned by the preacher but under a different name, was paid some GH¢2.6 million to help it build the cathedral.
The MP also produced documents to the effect that Kusi Boateng has multiple passports (including a diplomatic one) bearing different names apart from what he is popularly known as.
Rev. Kusi Boateng has however denied all the allegations against him.
Some students of the Mensah Sarbah hall of the University of Ghana have sued the management of the school for denying them access to their halls.
The students believe this is an infringement on their fundamental human rights to education, freedom from unlawful discrimination and fair administrative justice guaranteed under the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.
They want the court to enforce these rights.
Students of the University of Ghana (UG), have been left stranded on campus following the university’s new residential policy.
On Monday, January 16, 2023, some affected students of Commonwealth hall numbering about 40 were turned away by security personnel of the school from accessing their hall.
Presidential Staffer Dennis Miracles Aboagye has accused North Tongu Member of Parliament Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa of harming the reputation of innocent people before availing himself to the facts of a matter.
He says the opposition lawmaker engages in drama and theatrics when issues come up only to realise later that he did not have the facts.
Whenever Mr Ablakwa’s falsehoods are exposed by the facts, he quickly changes his claims, Mr Miracles Aboagye said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, January 21qhil3 contributing to a topic on the National Cathedral project.
“I am worried that a Member of Parliament will embark on this dangerous activity. Investigate and find out facts before coming out and calling names,” he said.
On Tuesday, January 17, Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral, Rev Kusi Boateng rejected the allegations made against him by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
Mr Ablakwa had presented what he described as “unimpeachable” and “incontrovertible” evidence against him.
According to the opposition lawmaker, Rev Kusi Boateng is the third “mystery” director of JNS Talent Cantre Limited, a firm he had earlier accused of receiving GH¢2.6 million illegal cash transfer from the Secretariat.
Unimpeachable and incontrovertible evidence confirms that Mr. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is the famous Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng who still serves on the National Cathedral Board as an Executive Council Member/Director,” he said.
For the avoidance of doubt, he added, there is no distinct Kwabena Adu Gyamfi. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is a criminal creation of Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng.
The two are therefore one and the same, he said.
“Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi thought he had outwitted every Ghanaian, particularly our authorities whom he dribbled for many years; but the day of reckoning is finally here.”
Mr Ablakwa has further petitioned the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice ( CHRAJ) to look into the matter.
But responding to him in a statement, Rev Kusi Boateng said he looks forward to CHRAJ’s probe.
“I wish to assure the public that the statement made by Mr Ablakwa are a twisted narration of events to pursue a malicious political agenda. There has never been any criminal intent nor any crime committed in my dealings with the government of Ghana or National Cathedral,” he said.
According to her, they relied on the seed money the government finds from time to time without knowing the exact amount the state said it will give as seed money.
“I’m still looking for it, I think that’s the question we need to go and ask–Since the state said it will give us seed money, what percentage is it giving? …No, we were not told, we were just told seed money, and we have relied on the seed money the government will find from time to time. We have not been told the exact amount the seed money is,” citinewsroom quoted Joyce Aryee as having said.
Responding to the question of how the board of trustees was operating without the knowledge of government’s financial commitment, she noted that in such instances, they assume that they are supposed to raise the total budget and consider “the other one [government’s seed money] as a gift. It will be wonderful when the other person [government] brings his gift, otherwise, I’m building [the project without it]”.
“The project was never meant to be fully financed by the state and when we were called, that is what we were told. The state will do certain things and we the members of the board were to make sure that we raise the money to build the Cathedral. It was never meant to be fully financed by the state,” Rev. Joyce Aryee clarified.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on March 16 appointed a 13-Member Board of Trustees to spearhead Ghana’s National Cathedral.
At their inauguration at the Jubilee House, the President said the 13-member Board of Trustees will be in charge of the National Cathedral when it is completed. The members are:
1. Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah, former Chairman of the Church of Pentecost – Chairperson
2. Archbishop Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop, Cape Coast – Vice Chairman
3. Most Rev. Bishop Justice Ofei Akrofi, Anglican Archbishop Emeritus – Member
4. Rt. Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey, former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church – Member
5. Most Rev T. K. Awotwi Pratt, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church – Member
6. Rev Prof Cephas Omenyo, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church – Member
7. Pastor Mensa Otabil, General Overseer of International Central Gospel Church – Member
8. Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, Presiding Archbishop and General Overseer of Action Chapel International – Member
9. Rev Dr Joyce Aryee, Executive Director, Salt and Light Ministries – Member
10. Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, Presiding Bishop, Lighthouse Group of Churches – Member
11. Rev Eastwood Anaba, Founder and President of Eastwood Anaba Ministries – Member
12. Rev Victor Kusi-Boateng, Founder of Power Chapel Worldwide – Member/Secretary
13. Rev Dr Frimpong Manso, General Superintendent, Assemblies of God – Member
At the National Cathedral Secretariat, there is an appointed Executive Director known as Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah with two (2) representatives of the United States.
However, in August 2022 Bishop Dag Heward-Mills resigned as a member of the trustee.
A group of Pentecostals is calling for the immediate resignation of the chairman of the board of trustees of the National Cathedral Professor Opoku Nyinah.
According to the group, the continuous stay of Professor Opoku Nyinah as the board chairman amidst controversies ridicules the Church of Pentecost as he is the immediate past chairman.
In a press release, the convener Timothy Atayaa added that it is an open secret many Ghanaians, including Pentecostals, are not happy with this project and as such, are not happy with any person involved in this project, not excluding our Professor Opoku Onyinah.
“We wish to express disappointment over the involvement of our immediate past chairman, Professor Opoku Onyinah, in the controversial National Cathedral project, as he is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
“The National Cathedral project, which came about as the fulfilment of a personal pledge by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is one of the most criticized projects in Ghana today, having been shrouded in a lot of shady dealings, the unconstitutional and illegal use of public resources, and all of kinds controversies surrounding the project.
“We are not against the building of a cathedral, but considering the manner in which this particular project was conceived and how it is being executed, coupled with the time at which it is being executed, there are a lot of question marks about this project, the statement added
Below is the press release:
19/01/2023
PROFESSOR OPOKU NYINAH SHOULD RESIGN AS CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OVER THE CONTROVERSIAL NATIONAL CATHEDRAL PROJECT
We wish to express disappointment over the involvement of our immediate past chairman, Professor Opoku Onyinah, in the controversial National Cathedral project, as he is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
The National Cathedral project, which came about as the fulfilment of a personal pledge by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is one of the most criticized projects in Ghana today, having been shrouded in a lot of shady dealings, the unconstitutional and illegal use of public resources, and all of kinds controversies surrounding the project.
We are not against the building of a cathedral, but considering the manner in which this particular project was conceived and how it is being executed, coupled with the time at which it is being executed, there are a lot of question marks about this project.
The president initially told Ghanaians that the project was not going to cost the taxpayer even a cedi, but what we see today is that a lot of public and private buildings have been pulled down at the expense of the taxpayer. Also, state resources are being illegally and dubiously channelled into this project in these excruciatingly hard times, with people being paid with the taxpayer’s money for no work done on this project, among many others.
There are numerous places in Ghana where we can converge to seek the face of God so why still insist on carrying out this project even at a time the economy is critically seeking life support from the IMF? At a time when Ghanaian children are still studying under trees, some having to lie on their stomachs to learn in school, and with no textbooks, and even schools without chalks for teaching, not to even talk about computers? We are also in a period where SHSs across the country have no food to feed our children, our health insurance is almost collapsed, hospitals are without beds and it is the very time the president wants to build a cathedral. Are we serious as a country?
The Church of Pentecost recently handed over a prison facility to the state, and even though it is part of our social responsibility, this is first the primary responsibility of the government. At the time, the current Chairman of the church, Prophet Opoku Onyinah, did not envisage the need for a national cathedral.
Also, the open secret is that many Ghanaians, including Pentecostals, are not happy with this project and as such, are not happy with any person involved in this project, not excluding our very own Professor Opoku Onyinah.
We, therefore, call for the resignation of Professor Opoku Onyinah, who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral, as his continuous involvement ridicules the Church of Pentecost.
Convener Concerned Pentecostals Timothy Ataaya The Church of Pentecost
The Chief Executive Officer of the J.A. Kufuor Foundation, Prof. Baffuor Agyemang Duah, has described the scandals that have befallen the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana as a tragedy.
Speaking in an interview on XYZ TV, which was monitored by GhanaWeb, Prof. Agyamang Duah said that the cathedral project was supposed to be spearheaded by the clergy, but it appears some individuals are making the decisions for them.
“The whole project was ill-conceived… initially my thinking was that this was a private initiative, which means that funds would be mobilised privately. And I think they attempted that; because I understand that they engaged somebody, a fundraiser, to do that, and perhaps because the private fundraising did not go well, that is why they decided to use state money for what they call seed money.
“The fact is that the controversies about the cathedral reflect a very flawed national project, badly conceived and badly executed. And the government succeeded in lining up some respectable individuals to be the face of the project,” he said.
“And from what we are hearing from members who have resigned, major decisions concerning the project were not even taken by the Board of Trustees. It seemed like there were some private individuals behind it who were making all the decisions… so mixing private sentiments and desires with public resources and topping it with religious faces is what has caused this tragedy,” he added.
Prof. Agyemang Duah, a governance expert, noted that the modus operandi of the stakeholders involved in the construction of the cathedral was not in consonance with good governance practices.
He also said that he is not surprised about the scandals that are now meeting the construction of the cathedral.
Prof. Agyeman Duah made these remarks while reacting to the latest corruption exposé on the National Cathedral by MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, portions of which suggested impropriety on the part of the secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng.
On January 16, 2023, the MP made some allegations against Rev. Kusi Boateng, who is the secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana.
In an earlier revelation about the National Cathedral, Okudzeto Ablakwa said a whopping GHC 2.6 million was dished out to a company named JNS Talent Centre Limited.
Further investigations into the alleged payment led to the discovery of one Kwabena Adu Gyamfi as a director of JNS Talent Centre.
Having confirmed the identities of two out of the three directors of the centre, Ablakwa dug deeper in a bid to discover the identity of the third director, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
According to his findings, citing a number of documents, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi was the same as Reverend Kusi Boateng, who had allegedly been operating under the pseudonym Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
But Kusi Boateng, in a statement sighted by GhanaWeb, said that the allegations made against him by Ablakwa are mere fabrications.
He said that the accusations the MP made against him were for political purposes, adding that he has not engaged in any criminal activity in his dealings with the National Cathedral project.
Rev. Kusi Boateng also said that he is waiting on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), which has been petitioned by Ablakwa, to investigate him.
He added that he will explore the legal options available to him against the MP for deliberately defaming him.
Paul Adom-Otchere, the board chairman of the Ghana Airport Company Limited says he is praying to God to ensure that Reverend Kusi Boateng, the secretary of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral is exonerated of the charges levelled against him by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu.
The host of Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV says much as he believes in the credibility of Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, he is hopeful that Reverend Kusi Boateng will be cleared of the allegations for which he has been hauled to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
He commended Reverend Kusi Boateng for indicating his readiness to collaborate with CHRAJ and said that posture fills him with confidence that the embattled clergyman is innocent of the allegations.
“The matter is before CHRAJ and I’m happy that in his response Reverend Kusi Boateng welcomed the challenge that Okudzeto is sending him to CHRAJ. It tells all of us that he will be able to establish his innocence. I pray to God and I sincerely hope Okudzeto is wrong on this matter even though I take him seriously,” he said.
Okudzeto Ablakwa on Tuesday, January 17, 2023 petitioned CHRAJ to investigate Reverend Kusi Boateng over the alleged payment of GH₵2.6 million paid him by the National Cathedral secretariat.
The petition was the actionable move of an explosive set of allegations he made against Reverend Kusi Boateng which among other things include double identity claims.
In an explosive set of allegations which he described as the Tsar Bomba of all scandals, Ablakwa claimed that Reverend Kusi Boateng holds multiple passports and identification cards with some bearing the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
“You will recall that in my earlier exposé of the scandalous GHC2.6million cash transfer from the National Cathedral Secretariat to JNS Talent Centre Limited, I pointed out that incorporation documents reveal that the three directors of JNS Talent Centre Limited are Johannes Eshun, Sheila Eshun and Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
“I also later revealed that Rev. Johannes Eshun is a branch pastor of National Cathedral Executive Council Member/Director, Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng’s Power Chapel Worldwide.
“Hitherto, the third director—Mr. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi has remained a mystery figure.
“I am now able to reveal the true identity of this mystery director of JNS, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
“Definitely, the code has finally been cracked and it shocks to the marrow!
“Unimpeachable and incontrovertible evidence confirms that Mr. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is the famous Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng who still serves on the National Cathedral Board as an Executive Council Member/Director.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no distinct Kwabena Adu Gyamfi. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is a criminal creation of Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng. The two are therefore one and the same.
“Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi thought he had outwitted every Ghanaian, particularly our authorities whom he dribbled for many years; but the day of reckoning is finally here.
“From unassailable and irreproachable documents in my possession, Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi uses multiple passports and multiple identification cards with different names and different dates of birth as his special modus operandi,” he wrote on Facebook.
A member of the National Cathedral Board of Trustees, Rev. Joyce Aryee, says the trustees are not privy to the total seed money government is committing to the project.
“I’m still looking for it, I think that’s the question we need to go and ask–Since the state said it will give us seed money, what percentage is it giving? …No, we were not told, we were just told seed money, and we have relied on the seed money the government will find from time to time. We have not been told the exact amount the seed money is,” she told Umaru Sanda Amadu in an interview on Eyewitness News on Thursday.
When asked how the board of trustees was operating without the knowledge of government’s commitment, she noted that in such instances, they assume that they are supposed to raise the total budget and consider “the other one [government’s seed money] as a gift. It will be wonderful when the other person [government] brings his gift, otherwise, I’m building [the project without it]”.
She stated that the Articles of Incorporation make the board of trustees the project owners.
“Actually the Articles of Incorporation make us the project owners [board of trustees]. It will be a national monument,” she stressed.
The member of the National Cathedral Board of Trustees stated that they were assigned to raise funds while the government will also support them with other stuff.
“The project was never meant to be fully financed by the state and when we were called, that is what we were told. The state will do certain things and we the members of the board were to make sure that we raise the money to build the Cathedral. It was never meant to be fully financed by the state,” Rev. Joyce Aryee clarified.
She stated that the board members were not building blindly because the seed money is not the whole money for the construction of the National Cathedral.
“We are not building blindly because the seed money is not the entire money for the project,” She underscored.
The National Cathedral has always been in the news for the wrong reasons with the recent one being a GH¢2.6 million scandal currently being probed by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
Background of National Cathedral
The National Cathedral is a promise President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made to God ahead of the 2016 general elections.
Nana Akufo-Addo said he promised to build a national cathedral for God if he became president and pushed for the project after he was sworn into office in 2017.
He described the project as a “priority among priorities” but however said it will be funded by the Christian community.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta in 2018 explained that: “The state is facilitating this process by providing the land, the Secretariat, and seed money for the preparatory phase. This National Cathedral partnership framework operationalizes, and indeed is a practical expression of the social partnership envisaged to foster participatory development of the country as our collective goal.”
Although the initial budget was pegged at $100 million, the amount has over the years ballooned to almost $400 million.
Gov’t releases GH¢25m seed money
Government in June 2022 granted the release of GH¢25 million to the National Cathedral Secretariat as additional seed money for the construction of the project.
A letter, signed by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to the Controller and Accountant’s General, directed that the money be credited to Ribade Limited, for part payment of outstanding claims.
“Authority is hereby granted to you to release the sum [of] GH¢25, 000,000.00 as additional seed money to the National Cathedral Secretariat for the construction of the National Cathedral for part payment of outstanding claims from RIBADE Limited,” the letter added.
Government has also released several amounts of money towards the project which is currently at the ground level.
The Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral has responded to contents of the resignation letter of one of its members, portions of which have been published in the media this week.
The August 2022 resignation letter of Bishop Dag Heward-Mills found its way into the media with some of the reasons he gave for leaving generating lots of commentary around the project which has recently been at the center of some controversies.
Heward-Mills resigns as a trustee
Heward-Mills’ August 2022 resignation letter as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral contained a number of reasons why he was opting out.
Chief amongst them are issues of corporate governance breaches, government unilaterally acting on major decisions without recourse to the trustees and public uproar over accountability in respect of the use of public funds for the project.
Chairman of Board of Trustees responds
In an official release signed by the Chairman of the board, Apostle Prof Opoku Onyinah, the Board said some of the issues Heward-Mills raised in his letter had been addressed in the October 15 reply to his resignation as well as a visit to his office.
In clarifying a number of issues, the release emphasized that the Cathedral project was a partnership between the state and the church and that each party knew their exact roles from the outset.
“The National Cathedral is a partnership between the State and Church, and the roles of the state have been clearly specified in the partnership: appointment of the Architect, the Land, the Secretariat and Seed Money for the preparatory phase of the work,” the release read.
The architect for the project was selected by the president even before the trustees were appointed and that the contractors were also selected through a transparent international procurement process which the Board of Trustees approved.
Concluding remarks on work of trustees
In its conclusion, it addressed how the Board of Trustees worked and related despite coming from different churches.
“One of the key strengths of the National Cathedral Project is the Board of Trustees, made up of some of the key, pioneering leaders of the church in Ghana, and whose work on the project is contributing to improved inter-church relations in the country. These church leaders, the Board of Trustees, have pioneered and/or lead vibrant churches with global reach and impact.
“These churches and their leaders not only have deep-seated theological differences, but also different understandings and approaches to the development of the National Cathedral. The challenge of such a group is that individual leaders, with a history of implementing their own organizational /denominational programs and vision, have to be part of a collective decision-making process where their preferences might not always prevail. Specifically, this means that no one leader can have all their preferences, methods, and approaches accepted. In this changed and unfamiliar context, some would prefer to leave the Trusteeship.
“This notwithstanding, we are grateful that all the Trustees — including Bishop Dag Heward-Mills who voluntarily left the Trusteeship — still remain committed to the vision of the National Cathedral and want to see it completed to God’s glory,” the statement concluded.
The Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral project has responded to remarks made in the resignation letter of Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, who serves as head of the Lighthouse Group of Churches.
Board contends that the revered minister and all other trustees should understand that their preferences won’t always be taken into consideration.
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Apostle Professor Opoku Onyinah, stated in a news statement that all leaders have their own perspectives on some subjects and should be recognized for them.
With this admonition, it concluded by urging other members to accept and appreciate divergent views or resign from the trusteeship.
“These churches and their leaders not only have deep-seated theological differences, but also different understandings and approaches to the development of the National Cathedral.
“The challenge of such a group is that individual leaders, with a history of implementing their own organizational /denominational programs and vision, have to be part of a collective decision-making process where their preferences might not always prevail.
“Specifically, this means that no one leader can have all their preferences, methods, and approaches accepted. In this changed and unfamiliar context, some would prefer to leave the Trusteeship,” an excerpt of the release said.
The presiding Bishop of the Lighthouse Group of Churches, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills resigned from the board in August 2022.
In his resignation letter, the venerable bishop aired his displeasure about some of the happenings on the board.
According to the respected preacher, even though he was a trustee and attended all meetings until his resignation, he was not involved nor privy to discussions on the financial and technical issues concerning the project.
Also, amongst other issues of concern to him, the seasoned Bible teacher said weighty issues and decisions were taken by persons other than the Board of Trustees.
He said these reasons compelled him to resign from the board even though he supports the building of the Cathedral.
“I have been a reachable and available trustee and attended every meeting of trustees since the pandemic began, in person and by zoom, and the records will show that.
If I say that I, as a trustee, do not know many of the financial and technical issues concerning the Cathedral, it means the discussions about the National Cathedral were held by some people outside the trustees’ meeting or perhaps in a forum that I was not present or invited to.”
“On the one hand, the National Cathedral is said to be a Government of Ghana project, with the government taking financial decisions. Yet, on another hand, at meetings, it is implied that the trustees have taken or participated in taking some decisions.”
The National Cathedral Project has been one of the controversial public issues since the project was commissioned.
Apart from the questions of accountability repeatedly raised by the Minority in Parliament, there have also been concerns about the project’s relevance in the face of the country’s current economic crisis.
There have also been conflicts of interest including possession of multiple identities among other suspicious dealings allegations against the Secretary of the National Cathedral Board of Trustees, Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng, who doubles as the founder of Power Chapel Worldwide.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Dr Paul Opoku Mensah has dismissed the allegations.
He explained that the amount paid on September 8, 2021, was a loan from a board member whose name he fell short of mentioning.
Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng, has hinted that he will take action with respect to deliberate defamation targeted at his person by a lawmaker.
Rev. Kusi Boateng said he was currently committed to responding to a formal enquiry in respect of allegations made against him by Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
The MP mentioned the clergyman in his ‘Mother of all scandals’ publication on January 16, 2023, alleging principally that Kusi Boateng was using two different identities on official documents.
He had earlier on alleged that an amount of GH¢2.6 million was ‘irregularly’ paid out from the chest of the National Cathedral to JNS Talent Centre, a company closely associated to Kusi Boateng.
In his response to the accusations, the clergyman stayed away from directly addressing the identity issue but said he welcomed the enquiry by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), following the lodging of an official petition by Ablakwa.
Kusi Boateng’s statement of January 16, 2023 added: “When all is done, I will seek redress against Mr. Ablakwa for his deliberate defamatory statements against me.
“I will continue to contribute my quota to the National Cathedral project and offer my services to the country to the best of my ability,” the statement concluded.
Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng, has hinted that he will take action with respect to deliberate defamation targeted at his person by a lawmaker.
Rev. Kusi Boateng said he was currently committed to responding to a formal enquiry in respect of allegations made against him by Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
The MP mentioned the clergyman in his ‘Mother of all scandals’ publication on January 16, 2023, alleging principally that Kusi Boateng was using two different identities on official documents.
He had earlier on alleged that an amount of GH¢2.6 million was ‘irregularly’ paid out from the chest of the National Cathedral to JNS Talent Centre, a company closely associated to Kusi Boateng.
In his response to the accusations, the clergyman stayed away from directly addressing the identity issue but said he welcomed the enquiry by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), following the lodging of an official petition by Ablakwa.
Kusi Boateng’s statement of January 16, 2023 added: “When all is done, I will seek redress against Mr. Ablakwa for his deliberate defamatory statements against me.
“I will continue to contribute my quota to the National Cathedral project and offer my services to the country to the best of my ability,” the statement concluded.
Founder and Presiding Bishop of the United Denominations Originating from the Lighthouse Group Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, brought his experience in building and architecture to bear in one of his letters to the Executive Director of the National Cathedral project.
In a letter dated June 22, 2022, and written on the letterhead of the Ghana Charismatic Bishops’ Conference, Heward-Mills lamented about corporate governance issues and instances of sidelining of the Board of Trustees in key decisions around the project.
In addressing the subject of the way forward for the project, he advanced that building the cathedral at the estimated cost of US$350 million was attainable especially because the trustees were originally supposed to raise only 3% of the total sum.
Call to review cost and design of project
He emphasized that the challenges with raising necessary funding meant that the project design and cost needed to be reviewed.
“I suggest that the design of the National Cathedral be overhauled to make it possible to build it under our present circumstances. The design can be made to look almost exactly as it has been presented by Sir David Adjaye and just as the president has approved.
“Many design details can be made to make this Cathedral buildable and affordable. I would personally offer to engage and discuss with these consultants if my services are needed or wanted.
“The cost of the National Cathedral Project should be completely overhauled. Instead of building a USD350m church, I suggest that the Cathedral should be built at a fraction of this cost.
List of major buildings built at less than US$350m
Heward-Mills also listed a number of public buildings that had been built at a fraction of the US$350 million dollars the Cathedral was estimated to cost.
“You will recall that I pointed out that many of the huge projects in Ghana including Villagio, Ecobank Headquarters, Jubilee House, Ministry of Defense, Airport Terminal Three, National Theatre, One Airport Square and Accra Mall; have been built at a fraction of the amount we are quoting for the Cathedral.
“From my experience in building, we can still build the Cathedral at a fraction of the cost. The cost of USD350m by the church is unattainable, indeed our Executive Director has told us we are expected to raise only 3% of the money,” he stressed.
Heward-Mills officially resigns as trustee
Two months after his letter, Heward-Mills tendered his resignation as a trustee of the project stressing that he still believed in the project and will consider returning if concerns he had raised were addressed.
The resignation letter handed in last year was only recently leaked to the media.
In it, he emphasized that he believed in the project and the vision of the president and was ready to support it in any way to see it to its fruition.
The founder of the LightHouse Chapel International, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills has revealed that he was kept in the dark over major decisions on the National Cathedral despite being a member of the Board of Trustees.
He said he wasn’t aware of a decision to build a biblical garden and museum as part of the National Cathedral project which resulted in a massive price change to the project.
In his resignation letter to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the former Executive Director of the National Cathedral also stated that he only found out a lot of facts about the project in the press.
“I am unaware of and not involved with the decision that a biblical garden and museum should be added to the project resulting, in a massive price change to the project. I am unaware of how the cost of the gardens and the Bible Museum were arrived at.
“As a trustee, I equally read in the news of many issues concerning the National Cathedral, and I am as surprised as the public about many of the facts.”
Bishop Dag in his letter sighted by Citi News, said: “l have therefore accepted for some time now that I am not a trustee of the National Cathedral, but I have still sought to help with the Cathedral because I believe in the President’s vision and I do not have to be a legally registered trustee to do so. I refer to myself in this letter as a trustee because even though l am not privy to most of the weighty decisions of the Board I am referred to as such.”
Bishop Heward-Mills added that trustees were gagged from answering pertinent issues about the project to the press.
“The fact that trustees do not know what is going on is affirmed by the fact that at a point, we were asked not to answer questions about the National Cathedral to the press and only one person was supposed to speak to the press. If we are trustees who are managing the business of the Cathedral, how come we cannot reasonably answer any questions concerning the Cathedral? Indeed, it is because we truly do not know much about what is happening that we were told not to answer questions in the press.”
He also said questions being asked by Ghanaians about the National Cathedral project are legitimate.
With regard to the fund-raisers, he lamented that the methods used over the years had not yielded much hence the need to review their strategy.
“I do believe that the fund-raising methods we have attempted have not yielded much. Indeed, some of the programmes we have held have cost more than the monies we have raised from them. I suggest another form of fund-raising where we would be guaranteed more donations from denominations, churches, individuals, businessmen and corporate bodies. I would be happy to discuss these if the committee is interested in that.”
The founder and leader of the Lighthouse Chapel International, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, has said that questions being raised by Ghanaians on the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana are legitimate.
According to him, the public have the right to ask questions about the project because, 6 years after the construction of the project started and after using $30 million of public funds, they can only see a huge pit in the centre of Accra, citinewroom.com reports.
Heward-Mills, who is reported to have made these remarks in a letter he wrote to the Board of Trustees and Executive Director of the National Cathedral, added that Ghanaians deserve some answers to the questions they have raised.
“I am a firm believer in the president’s vision. I believe that the public can see and is questioning the fact that we have spent almost six years since the sod-cutting of this project as well as over $30m (thirty million dollars) of public funds, to excavate a massive pit in the centre of the city.
“I do believe that many of the questions that are being asked and hurled at the National Cathedral Project are reasonable and legitimate questions by objective citizens who just want answers to their questions,” parts of the letter is quoted by citinewsroom.com.
The pastor also raised some concerns about payments made to stakeholders involved in the cathedral project.
“Continuing to pay contractors $40,000 (forty thousand dollars) a month as we wait to procure a huge loan in this hostile atmosphere sounds dicey to me. I do believe that almost six years down the line, we need to look at a different approach to achieve our goal of building God’s house in Ghana,” he said.
He also said that the fund-raising methods used by the supervisors of the project did not yield much result, with some of the programmes organised to raise funds costing more than the monies raised.
“I suggest another form of fund-raising where we would be guaranteed more donations from denominations, churches, individuals, businessmen and corporate bodies. I would be happy to discuss these if the committee is interested in that,” he added.
The controversies surrounding the National Cathedral project do not seem to be ending anytime soon.
This is because more allegations are being made against the handlers of the project.
The latest person to add to these issues is the founder and presiding Bishop of the Lighthouse Group of Churches, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills.
According to the respected preacher, even though he was a trustee and attended all meetings until his resignation, he was not involved nor privy to discussions on the financial and technical issues concerning the project.
Amongst other issues of concern to him, the seasoned Bible teacher said weighty issues and decisions were taken by persons other than the Board of Trustees.
The seasoned Bible scholar in his resignation letter issued in August 2022, and sighted by Citi FM, added that all of his suggestions and contributions were “trivialised and set aside.”
According to him, these reasons compelled him to resign from the board even though he supports the building of the Cathedral.
“I have been a reachable and available trustee and attended every single meeting of trustees since the pandemic began, in person and by zoom, and the records will show that.
If I say that I, as a trustee, do not know many of the financial and technical issues concerning the Cathedral, it means the discussions about the National Cathedral were held by some people outside the trustees’ meeting or perhaps in a forum that I was not present or invited to.”
“On the one hand, the National Cathedral is said to be a Government of Ghana project, with the government taking financial decisions. Yet, on another hand, at meetings, it is implied that the trustees have taken or participated in taking some decisions.”
The National Cathedral Project has been one of the controversial public issues, since the project was commissioned.
Apart from the questions of accountability repeatedly raised by the Minority in Parliament, there have also been concerns about the relevance of the project, in the face of the country’s current economic crisis.
There have also been conflict of interest including possession of multiple identities among other suspicious dealings allegations against the Secretary of the National Cathedral Board of Trustees, Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng, who doubles as the founder of Power Chapel Worldwide.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Dr. Paul Opoku Mensah has dismissed allegations.
He explained that the said amount which was paid on September 8, 2021, was a loan from a board member whose name he fell short of mentioning.
He stressed that the amount was requested from the state in August 2021 to be used to pay the contractors but was delayed due to some processes at the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.
Hence, the board member offered to loan the money through his company, JNS Talent Centre Limited to be paid later without any interest.
According to him, there is no illegal payment as suggested by Okudzeto Ablakwa and there are documentations which have been submitted to Parliament to prove his explanations.
He advised the North Tongu MP and other critics of the project to seek clarification from the National Cathedral Secretariat before raising accusations.
The Management of the University of Ghana has cautioned continuing students residing in all-male Commonwealth Hall to desist from invading the premises.
In a statement, the management said it had received reports that some Old Vandals are inciting students to “pack all their belongings and report at the entrance of Commonwealth Hall” on the basis of an order of injunction issued by the High Court.”
It has, however, asked students to refrain from the act noting that the High Court injunction did not direct or authorise students to converge at the Hall.
“The University also wishes to clarify that it has not implemented a so-called residential policy ‘dated 26 October 26, 2022’ as contained in the order of injunction issued by the High Court.
“The University wishes to place on record that, by January 6, 2023, when the order of injunction was secured, almost 86% of students who were legally resident in Commonwealth Hall in the 2021/22 academic year, including four of the eight students who secured the order of injunction against the University, had formally accepted allocation to other Halls of residence in the University,” parts of the statement read.
“…I am very encouraged by your words on the National Cathedral. I am very determined that come what may, I have two more years, whatever the case, the National Cathedral will be at a very advanced stage before I leave office. I think it is important that we do it.”
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has celebrated members of the clergy who he says are demanding accountability on the part of government with respect to the National Cathedral project.
In a January 10, 2023 post on his verified social media pages, the lawmaker wrote: I salute all Christian Leaders & Christian Organisations who have epitomized their teachings to us by publicly & courageously demanding accountability on President Akufo-Addo’s scandalous Cathedral project.
“I am also eternally grateful to all the Men of God who call & say special prayers with me, and the many others I am yet to meet including Christians of diverse denominations who pray for us and boldly encourage the pursuit of truth and transparency.
“Please keep inspiring us, for God and Country. Truth Stands.”
His post was accompanied by screenshots of website articles with respect to clergymen who are demanding accountability from government over the project.
Among the clergymen are Prophet Oduro, Rev. Owusu Bempah as well as concerns by the Christian Council and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo recently donated GHC100,000 as part of his commitment to see to the completion of the project by the 2024 deadline.
So far, about GHC340 million of public funds has been pumped into the project with Parliament recently rejecting GHC80 million budgeted for the project in 2023.
President Akufo-Addo stated, “The government’s set resolution remains to develop a strong and healthy economy to face the global economic and social pressure of the time,” at the First Sky Group’s 20th anniversary thanksgiving service in Accra.
“I acknowledge that the nation’s economy has not performed as well as we had hoped, but I can promise you that my government is still committed to making every effort to improve the situation.
I am of the strongest conviction that we will turn the corner, there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel and Ghanaians will surely experience better days again,” the President said.
The Thanksgiving service, which was on the theme: “The Lord has done great things for us and we are glad,” attracted ministers of state, Parliamentarians, clergy, Judiciary, the Vice president of Liberia Dr Jewel Howard Taylor, traditional leaders and management, staff partners and other stakeholders of the company to show gratitude to God for His protection throughout the 20 years of the existence of the company.
Touching on the National Cathedral, President Akufo-Addo said he was satisafied with the progress so far and urged the Ghanaian Christian community, both here and the diaspora, all churches, faith-based organizations, companies and well-meaning Ghanaians to passionately support funding efforts to ensure completion of the National Cathedral project despite the numerous criticisms.
“My commitment to see this pledge become a reality is unwavering and I believe with the help of the Almighty God and your support, we can do it. The example of First Sky Group as a Christian business is worth emulating, as it is on record as one of the first companies to publicly support this vision and mission with an amount of Two Million Ghana Cedis.”
The Founder and Executive Chairman of First Sky Group, Mr Eric Seddy Kutortse, in a welcome address said despite the global economic, social and political developments with direct and indirect impact on the Ghanaian economy, the power of God as the underlying factor and driving force had sustained and preserved the company throughout the year.
“We did not lay off any worker or did any worker experience any pay cut, but rather improved welfare of workers and also increase in our staff strength by 410 bringing it to 5,120 total number of workers, both permanent and casual in the entire group, he said.
He said God had been faithful to the Group, leading to the building of other subsidiaries including First Sky Commodities Limited, a Licensed Cocoa Buying company operating in all the cocoa growing areas of Ghana, and Volta Serene Hotel, a 4 Star Luxury hotel.,
Mr Kutortse announced that a joint working committee from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the First Sky Group had been formed and expressed the hope that by the end of the year the kidney transplant centre would be fully operational to cater for patients not only in Ghana but the entire west Africa sub region.
So far, an amount of GH¢26million has been spent on free dialysis for over 300 patients over the years in the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
“We will also continue with our church building project across the country. So far, 71 churches have been completed and 3 more earmarked for this year 2023,” he added.
The National Cathedral Secretariat has denied making payments to the tune of GH¢28 million to Cary Summers, an American consultancy firm as charges to allegedly organize a fundraiser in the United States for the National Cathedral project.
The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, had accused the Secretariat of seeking the services of the firm that specializes in organizing Christian fundraisers to help it raise money to complete the project which subsequently led to the alleged payments.
The Secretariat was also accused of paying the architect for the project, Sir David Adjaye thirty-four percent of the total contract sum.
“The Akufo-Addo Govt & Cathedral Secretariat gave out a colossal GHS28.2million of taxpayer funds to Mr. Cary Summers, an American consultant & CEO of the Nehemiah Group who’s raised less than GHS800k in 3 years,” he posted on his Twitter handle.
But the Secretariat in a six-point press release denied all the allegations.
To the accusation of paying Cary Summers GH¢28 million as consultancy fees, the Secretariat explained that: “there is no contract for Cary Summers, but rather the Nehemiah group—of which Cary Summers, the founding President of the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC, and one of the world’s leading experts on religious theme parks, is the CEO. And this contract is for a set of consultancy services, the most important being the coordination of work on the National Cathedral’s Bible Museum of Africa, and the Biblical Gardens of Africa. As we have indicated, the integration of the Bible Museum –the largest in the world when completed – and the Biblical Gardens are aimed at transforming Ghana into a hub for international pilgrimage and tourism.”
“The work of the National Cathedral’s Bible Museum and Biblical Gardens involves some of the leading global firms, who between them have worked on some of the major museums in the world. They include: Kubik Maltbie; PRD; Cortina Productions; JMC. The payments to the Nehemiah group, therefore, is not to Cary Summers to organize a fundraiser, but to these world-class firms for their work on the Bible Museum and Biblical Gardens.”
The Secretariat said there is neither anything sinister nor hidden about the said contract which is breeding the rumours because “the National Cathedral Secretariat submitted a copy of the report of the completed Concept Design of the Bible Museum and Biblical Gardens to Parliament on December 15, 2022. And we indicated to Parliament that the full concept design report, and all related documentation, is available upon request to the Secretariat.”
The release added that despite these rumours and many others, “the Board and Management of the National Cathedral Project remain focused and committed to the completion of the National Cathedral, and would continue to do so with diligence, integrity, excellence, and accountability.”
A Member of Parliament (MP) for the North Tongu Constituency has expressed concern about the appointment of the Finance Minister as caretaker.
Ken Ofori-Atta and his spouse are allegedly involved in some shady deals with the National Cathedral project, according to documents that the MP alleges to have in his possession.
“Fresh Cathedral documents in my possession reveal that Enterprise Insurance, a company Ken Ofori-Atta is intimately associated with & where his wife serves as a director was granted a sweetheart deal to insure the entire cathedral construction site,” he said.
This, the MP believes is a cause for worry.
Taking to his social media handle on Friday, Mr Ablakwa said with Ofori-Atta’s new appointment, only God can save the Trade Ministry.
“God save the Trade Ministry,” he said.
The North Tongu MP’s post comes hours after a statement from the office of the President announced that Mr Ofori-Atta will act as caretaker minister of the Ministry of Trade and Industry until a substantive replacement is made.
The Finance Minister’s caretaker appointment follows the resignation of the Trade Minister, Alan Kyerematen on Thursday.
The man popularly called ‘Alan Cash’ has long been rumoured to be nursing the ambition to contest the flagbearership slot of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2024 general election.
His resignation some have claimed, is to afford him time to pursue his presidential ambition.
Sir David Adjaye of Adjaye & Associates has responded to investigations being carried out on the institution for their involvement in the National Cathedral project.
According to Sir Adjaye in an interview of JoyNews, the probing is “sad” and “boring”.
He said: I just think that there is nothing wrong with healthy debate. Everybody should have an opinion and talk about how they feel about everything. Things should be allowed to be investigated and checked till everybody feels comfortable. There is nothing hidden or opaque. Everything is going through the system that can be checked through the government”.
“Fake investigations are just really reflecting badly on the people who are investigating”, he said, adding: “I think all the information is in the public realm and people are ignoring to look at the information and they are saying things that are counter to what is out there in the public realm,” Sir Adjaye added.
In June 2022, opposition MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said: “Documents from the Office of the President confirm that in 2021 alone, President Akufo-Addo authorised an astonishing GHS32million of taxpayer funds to be paid to Sir David Adjaye & Associates Ltd for consultancy on his National Cathedral project. “GHS57 million so far; more to come”.
Deputy Finance Minister John Kumah later confirmed that the money was from the budget of the Office of the President.
He said: “Even though it may not be captured as a budget item because it is not under any specific MDA, it can form part of government expenditure as long as we have captured it in the budget that we were going to provide seed funding”.
National Cathedral: Your ‘fake’ investigations ‘boring’ – Adjaye lunges at accusers; says ‘nothing hidden’ January 04, 2023
General News Sir David Adjaye Sir David Adjaye of Adjaye & Associates has said the “fake” investigations being conducted by his accusers regarding his contract to design the National Cathedral are “sad” and “boring”.
In an interview with Accra-based Joy News, Sir Adjaye said: I just think that there is nothing wrong with healthy debate. Everybody should have an opinion and talk about how they feel about everything. Things should be allowed to be investigated and checked till everybody feels comfortable. There is nothing hidden or opaque. Everything is going through the system that can be checked through the government”.
He lamented, however: “What is really sad and boring is when people just make accusations based on anything; that is not actually investigating”.
“Fake investigations are just really reflecting badly on the people who are investigating”, he said, adding: “I think all the information is in the public realm and people are ignoring to look at the information and they are saying things that are counter to what is out there in the public realm”.
In June 2022, opposition MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said: “Documents from the Office of the President confirm that in 2021 alone, President Akufo-Addo authorised an astonishing GHS32million of taxpayer funds to be paid to Sir David Adjaye & Associates Ltd for consultancy on his National Cathedral project. “GHS57 million so far; more to come”.
Deputy Finance Minister John Kumah later confirmed that the money was from the budget of the Office of the President.
He said: “Even though it may not be captured as a budget item because it is not under any specific MDA, it can form part of government expenditure as long as we have captured it in the budget that we were going to provide seed funding”.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the National Cathedral Secretariat, Dr Paul Opoku Mensah, recently said the amount paid directly to the Consultant, Adjaye Associates was GHS113.040.54.67 million.
Speaking at a bible-reading marathon on Monday, 2 January 2023, Dr Opoku Mensah clarified that all the funds allocated to the construction of the edifice have been accounted for to the pesewa and none has gone missing.
He said GHS339 of state funds has been expended on the cathedral as of December 2022.
Dr Opoku Mensah reported to President Akufo-Addo and the media at the event: “For purposes of clarity, I want to report a verbatim memo I sent on this issue dated 19 January 2022 and addressed to the Clerk of Parliament”.
“The indication was that the government has given us GHS339 million and we could account for GHS225 million leaving GHS114 million missing”, he noted.
“Here, I quote what I wrote to the Clerk: ‘As we indicated to the Committee on Thursday, December 15, 2022, the total amount paid by the government of Ghana to the National Cathedral project is GHS339 million. This total is made up of the following: the amount paid directly to the National Cathedral Secretariat is GHS225 million. The amount paid directly to the Consultant, Adjaye Associates & Design Team is GHS113.040.54.67 million. The two payments total GHS339.003.064.86’.”
Dr Opoku Mensah, thus, dispelled claims that some monies allocated for the construction of the cathedral cannot be accounted for.
“So, there are no missing funds that could not be accounted for. Secondly, the detailed account for these funds was provided to Parliament on 15 December 2022 by the Secretariat”.
“In the case of the accounting from the Secretariat, this involves among others, total payments made to the contractor, and total payments made to the Bible Museum and Biblical Gardens Design Team.”
He also expressed the secretariat’s displeasure at the “misrepresentation” of facts on the project by some Members of Parliament.
“While projects of this nature will always have discontent, we are nonetheless concerned about the misrepresentations, particularly when it comes from Members of Parliament”, he mentioned.
“For instance, the continued misrepresentation of the contract to the consultants is worrying as none of the amount bandied around comes anywhere near the contract amount.
“Rather than 34% that they said we’d paid the architect, actually, the contract figure is 12.5% when the Ministry of Works and Housing allows for 15.5%. And the 12.5% will not change irrespective of what happens to the total cost”.
“More critically, the contract is not for an architect, but for a set of consultants’ services involving 15 international and Ghanaian firms of which Sir David Adjaye Associates is the lead consultant.”
In the 2023 budget, the government allocated a sum of GHS80 million toward the construction of the cathedral, however, the minority caucus succeeded in disapproving it.
The money was, however, reallocated to the communications and road sectors.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced a cash donation of GH¢100,000 towards the National Cathedral project.
The National Cathedral project will be completed, according to the president.
Despite the numerous critiques and backlash, he asserts that this particular promise he made to God will be carried out with help from the Christian community.
President Akufo-Addo made the announcement while on a visit to the construction site where work has been put on hold because of a lack of funding.
“As I have said before, the National Cathedral will not just be another monument adorning the skyline of Accra, it will be a rallying point for the entire Christian community to come together and worship…I am therefore committed to working with the Board of Trustees to ensure the completion of this project to the glory of God.”
According to Dr. Paul Opoku Mensah, Executive Director of the National Cathedral Secretariat, the project’s building is crucial for the Church and the wider Christian community.
He further exhorted Christians to contribute financially to the project’s completion, which was initially planned to be completed in March 2024.
“If the Church Leaders stand with us on this project, we can easily raise One million people who will give us GH¢100 each. So essentially, we need the Church to stand with us. The state has done enough, all the preparatory works have been done, and the scope of work has been done without the state it was impossible,” Dr Mensah noted.
“We need the Church in Ghana to stand with us, this is a monument to the Church, this is a monument to God and a symbol of the Christian presence in Ghana,” he added.
Ken Ofori-Atta, the minister of finance, declared in May 2022 that a sum of $25 million had been approved to allow the project consultants to handle some aspects of the National Cathedral’s development.
Since it was announced, the proposal has drawn considerable controversy, censure, and opposition from the Ghanaian people, CSOs, and MPs.
But the finance minister said the amount which was tagged as “seed money” was paid in November 2020, to the project consultants.
Ken Ofori-Atta was subsequently hauled before parliament by the Minority caucus under seven grounds of a censure motion against him.
Meanwhile, the recently published 2021 Auditor-General’s report discovered that a total of GH¢142,762,500 from the national coffers was spent on the Ghana National Cathedral project in 2021.
This particular expenditure was however captured under the government’s priority programmes and interventions for the year under review.
Most of these stories garnered significant attention as the year went on and generated a lot of discussion on social media and in Accra’s streets.
They included things like political issues, entertainment, government, and developmental issues.
This article recaps some of these major stories that kept social media buzzing all year round.
Galamsey
Illegal small-scale mining also known as galamsey has been an issue of great national concern. The problem has been a long-lasting one that has caused destruction to the country’s water bodies. Pictures of samples of various river bodies flooded social media and generated a lot of engagement on the country’s ability to take care of its natural resources.
Watch how galamsey activities destroys cocoa farm of farmer sympathetic to the NPP
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Aisha Huang
The controversial Aisha Huang issue was one that many Ghanaians were interested in. According to the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, En Huang, popularly known as Aisha Huang was repatriated in December 2018. Her issue came up after she reappeared in Ghana in September. Aisha Huang is still in police custody as her case is currently in court.
Government fully committed to bringing Aisha Huang, others to book – Lands Minister
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My journey to becoming one of Ghana’s biggest make up artistes -Kruz K speaks
Conversations surrounding the construction of the National Cathedral were prevalent in 2022 especially when the country was facing a harsh economic crisis but the government was bent on building the National Cathedral.
Akufo-Addo’s private jet
Several issues were raised with the President’s “luxurious” flights. The issues were with the fact that the flights were expensive and costly to the taxpayer. Ghanaians on social media did not take it easy. They descended heavily on the government.
KenMustGo
The hashtag KenMustGo trended on social media for days. This was after some members of the NPP demanded the removal of the finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
NPP MPs petition president to sack Ofori-Atta, Adu Boahen
The majority caucus in parliament, at a press conference on Tuesday, have threatened they will not participate in any government business until Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta and Minister of State in charge of Finance at the Office of the President, Chares Adu Boahen are sacked by the president.
A member of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Dr Joyce Rosalind Aryee has said that the National Cathedral project will continue despite Parliament’s rejection of GH¢80 million budgetary allocation to it.
According to her, the said amount rejected by Parliament was only part of the seed money the government promised for the construction of the cathedral “not the entire money that is needed to construct and complete the edifice.”
Speaking on the Midday News on Joy FM, Dr Aryee said “…It does not mean the project can not go on because I know you are going to bring your money and I will bring mine and everybody that we will approach and is willing will bring theirs.”
She said on Thursday that “really, those who are willing are the people making the money available for the construction. I think we should all keep calm and not be disturbed.”
Dr Aryee clarified that there is a provision of seed money is from the Consolidated Vault.
“People have said that there has not been transparency, but every year in the budget there has been some seed money not taken from what I understand from the Contingency Fund, but I heard there’s something called Contingency Vault,” she said.
The former Minister of State acknowledged that Parliament has every right not to accept what a budget brings or otherwise.
Recently the Minority in Parliament accused Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta of releasing GHC25million to the National Cathedral Secretariat as additional seed money for the project without Parliament’s approval.
However, Ken Ofori-Atta has denied taking money from the Consolidated Fund to finance the National Cathedral project.
“I have taken no money from the Contingency Fund to make payments for the National Cathedral,” he clarified.
Dr. Kwame Asah-Asante, a political scientist, has claimed that given Ghana’s current economic circumstances, a National Cathedral is not necessary at this time.
“At this time we don’t need it,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday December 24.
He further indicated that the financing mechanism for the project was not transparent enough.
He said “Initially, we thought the churches were going to finance but later we were made to know that the state was involved.”
“Utmost transparency, we missed that,” he stressed.
Parliament did not approve the controversial GHS80 million that was earmarked for construction of the National Cathedral.
To that end, the amount has been channeled into Communication and Road sectors.
Earlier, the Ranking Member on the joint committee of Trade, Industry and Tourism, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, on Tuesday, December 20 dedicated a Minority voting decision to reject the budget estimates for the building of the National Cathedral as captured in the 2023 budget statement to Ghanaians.
He said the decision was a victory to all Ghanaians as previous allocations to the project were not properly accounted for.
Eleven Minority MPs as against 10 Majority MPs, therefore, voted to reject the GH¢80-million allocation for the continuation of the project.
Commenting on this development, Member of Parliament for North Tongu Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said “Government compelled to withdraw and reallocate the obnoxious and dubious GHS80million for President Akufo-Addo’s Cathedral to the Roads and Communications sectors.
“We won this battle for God and the suffering masses. Thank you all for your unflinching support.”
Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu I has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to halt work on the National Cathedral.
Dormaahene, who is the President of the Bono Regional House of Chief, said that the Cathedral project cannot be a priority of the government, given the difficulties Ghanaians are facing.
Osagyefo Agyemang Badu I, while addressing the media, added that the project can continue once the country is out of the woods and Akufo-Addo should not be the one who has to necessarily complete it.
“One of the things Ghanaians are asking me to talk to the president about is the National Cathedral. He (Akufo-Addo) swore to God to build a National Cathedral when he becomes president which is a good thing.
“However, given the economic difficulties Ghanaians are facing around this time, the people have asked me to tell you (Akufo-Addo) to put the project on hold. It is your initiative, no one can take it away from you but don’t use the national coffers to build a cathedral.
“.. tell him to focus on economic recovery so that in good time even if he is not able to complete it, any of these brothers (successors) could do so. That is what Ghanaians want me to tell you,” he said in Twi.
Meanwhile, Parliament’s Trades and Industry Committee has suspended the approval process for an amount of GH¢80 million allocated for the construction of the National Cathedral.
Tamale Central Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, who disclosed the development to Accra-based JoyNews on December 13, said the suspension will be in place till justification for the allocation is made.
“What the Committee decided was that we cannot just approve this GH¢80 million, we must know how the other GH¢339 million was spent. What did it constitute?
“The GH¢80 million you want us to approve, how did it find space in the budget line of the Ministry of Tourism when the Minister and the directors could not speak to the questions we were asking? What constitutes the GH¢80 million, they should give us a breakdown,” he stressed.
With an 11:10 majority vote, the committee’s minority side rejected the budget.
At a press conference on Tuesday, December 20, 2022, committee member Mr. Yussif Sulemana stated: “I can tell you on authority that at the end of the day, we had to vote and after the vote, the minority carried the day.
We have voted against it and have stated that now is not the appropriate moment to spend so much money on constructing a cathedral.
Again, he noted, “we were told that they have moved the cathedral from wherever it was to the ministry of tourism. And the question I put to them was that that organisation that is handling this cathedral, the secretariat, is it under the ministry of tourism?”
“If it’s not under the ministry of tourism, then it means that you want o use the ministry as a conduit to send the money wherever you want to send it and we, the minority, will not accept it”.
A few days ago, President Nana Akufo-Addo said upon completion, the National Cathedral will serve not only as the country’s collective thanksgiving “to the Almighty for the blessings He has bestowed on our nation, sparing us the ravages of civil war that have bedevilled the histories of virtually all our neighbours, and the outbreak of deadly mass epidemics but also as a rallying point for the entire Christian community of Ghana, which represents seventy-plus per cent of the population.”
The president made this known on Sunday, December 18, 2022, when he delivered an address at the centenary celebration of the Ga Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, held at the Black Star Square, Accra.
Addressing the congregation, which included the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, they asked the Ga Presbytery, and, indeed, all Christians, to continue to pray for Ghana’s peace and unity, so the nation can move forward in unity.
“I need the support of every Ghanaian, together with the prayers of the church, to help me and my government carry out our mandate successfully. Pray for me so that Almighty God will continue to give me wisdom, strength, courage and compassion to enable me to execute my duties as a good leader. With Him, all things are possible, as the battle is the Lord’s. For this, too, shall pass”, President Akufo-Addo said.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, recently said the National Cathedral is not a sensible project to undertake in the midst of an economic crisis.
In his view, the government could use the site for the project, for a more sensible venture.
Speaking at a roundtable organised by the Citizen’s Coalition in Accra on Thursday, 15 December 2022, Professor Prempeh said making allocations for the cathedral in the 2023 budget beats his imagination.
“When you are in a crisis, you can do exceptional things, I don’t see anything in the budget to suggest that this is a crisis and that this is being done as an emergency measure,” Professor Prempeh said.
“This is not the time for vanity projects but we have preserved a vanity project in the form of the cathedral. I was expecting that this being a crisis period, we will reflect on that decision and say: ‘even if this is sensible to do at all’ – and I do not think so – that it will not be the appropriate period or we will change the idea to something else”.
“There is a lot that we can still do with that site which can make sense”.
“So, generally it is a missed opportunity in terms of seeing this as a crisis moment and seeing it as a moment to reset the button”, Prof Prempeh noted.
“I think we have not quite done that”, he stressed.
“It looks to me that it is purely an emergency thing targeted at the IMF to approve a loan, as opposed to something that is going deep into the structure and our governance,” Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh admonished in his assessment.
Prof Prempeh is in good company with pressure group OccupyGhana, which recently recommended that the government suspend all public expenditure on the National Cathedral considering that the country is going through an economic crisis.
“Whatever arguments there might have been to support spending now-non-existent money on the proposed National Cathedral, have been eroded by the dire straits that the nation faces”, the group said in a statement.
“Our current situation makes the continued commitment in the budget to spend GH¢80 million on the cathedral, look like a vanity project”, it noted.
OG said: “We lose nothing by suspending expenditure on that project until the economy recovers”.
The National Cathedral was a personal promise made to God by then-presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo if he won the 2016 election.
The Minority in Parliament has voted against the adoption of a GH80 million budget for the construction of the National Cathedral in 2023.
According to the Minority, this is due to the Finance Ministry’s failure to account for GH114 million of the GH339 million spent thus far on the project.
Dr. Dominic Ayine, a member of Parliament’s Trades and Industry Committee, told Citi News that the Minority would only support the budgeted allocation to the Ministry of Tourism if the monies for the National Cathedral were not included.
“This afternoon, a joint committee of Youth and Sports, as well as Trades and Industry, met and took the decision by an 11-10 majority to reject the budget estimates of the Ministry of Tourism especially the allocation of GH¢80million for the construction of the National Cathedral.”
The National Cathedral project has been fraught with controversy, with many Ghanaians questioning the wisdom of the government funding a monument that is believed to represent President Akufo-personal Addo’s commitment to God.
Congratulations to my gallant NDC MP colleagues on the joint committee of Trade and Sports for defeating the outrageous and sleazy GHS80million Cathedral budgetary allocation by a crunch 11-10 victory a few minutes ago.
Glory be to God for helping us with this sweet victory. 🙏🏽
However, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has remained steadfast in his determination to construct Ghana’s National Cathedral.
Despite the present economic crisis, GH80 million was earmarked to fund the project in the 2023 budget.
OccupyGhana, a pressure organization, has urged that the government cease all public expenditures on the cathedral due to the country’s economic problems.
The project has been marred by financial squabbles, with the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, directing that GH25 million be credited to Ribade Limited for partial payment of outstanding claims in May 2022. This command and payment obviously violated the president’s promise that the project would not be funded with State monies.
The Minority in Parliament had accused Ofori-Atta 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.”
The Minister refuted the charge saying, “with both humility and confidence, I have not breached the Constitution in making payments to support the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana.”
As public opposition to the controversial National Cathedral‘s construction grows, President Nana Addo Danqua Akufo-Addo has reassessed his justification for why Ghanaians should support it.
This time, the president’s reason for building the national cathedral is no longer his personal gratitude to God for helping him win the 2016 elections to become president, as has been widely propagated by promoters of the edifice, but rather to thank God for sparing Ghana from the ravages of civil war, as have been witnessed by most of our neighbors in the subregion.
Speaking at the centenary celebration of the Ga Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at the Black Star Square in Accra, on December 18, President Akufo-Addo said the cathedral, when built, will help Ghana thank God for “sparing us the ravages of civil war that have bedevilled the histories of virtually all our neighbours and the outbreak of deadly mass epidemics, but also as a rallying point for the entire Christian community of Ghana, which represents seventy-plus percent of the population.”
This is a remarkable departure from what the president said at the launch of the project on December 29, 2018: “…the building of the National Cathedral is to serve as a gesture of thanksgiving to God for his blessings, favour, grace and mercies on our nation, and to give me an opportunity to redeem a pledge I made to Him before I became President.
“It will provide us with an avenue to call the nation to prayer, to worship, to celebrate, and to mourn. It will house a Bible Museum and will be an iconic infrastructure for national, regional and international pilgrimage and tourism. It will create jobs and serve as a catalyst for technology and skills transfer into our country,” President Akufo-Addo stressed.
Meanwhile, Parliament has put on hold its approval for the cathedral project pending explanations on how previous expenditures were disbursed.
According to Tamale Central MP, Murtala Mohammed, who spoke to Joy News on December 13, “What the Committee decided was that we cannot just approve this GH₵80 million; we must know how the other GH₵339 million was spent. What did it constitute?
“The GH₵80 million you want us to approve, how did it find space in the budget line of the Ministry of Tourism when the Minister and the directors could not speak to the questions we were asking? What constitutes the GH₵80 million, they should give us a breakdown.”
President Nana Addo Danqua Akufo-Addo’s government has insisted on building a befitting National Cathedral for the republic at a time when people are dealing with excruciating hardship amid rising costs of living, a weakened economy, and high debt-to-GDP exposure.
Many Ghanaians have spoken against the timing of the project, especially when the Finance Minister is at the IMF begging for 3 billion dollars to put the economy back on the path of recovery while announcing various levels of haircuts on investments and suspending the servicing of parts of the nation’s foreign debt.
President Akufo-Addo has again justified his decision to construct the National Cathedral.
He insists that the controversial project will signify an appreciation to God who he believes has spared the country from conflicts and plagues over the years.
According to him, the project whose 2023 budgetary allocation approval has been suspended will be geared toward thanking God for “sparing us the ravages of civil war that have bedevilled the histories of virtually all our neighbours and the outbreak of deadly mass epidemics but also as a rallying point for the entire Christian community of Ghana, which represents seventy-plus per cent of the population.”
He spoke during the centenary celebration of the Ga Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at the Black Star Square in Accra on December 18.
Addressing the congregants, President Akufo-Addo further courted the support of Ghanaians to make the country a better place for all.
“I need the support of every Ghanaian, together with the prayers of the church, to help me and my government carry out our mandate successfully,” he added on Sunday.
Key among the clergy present at the event were the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante.
On December 13, the Trades and Industry Committee of Parliament put on hold the approval of ₵80 million allocated for the construction of the National Cathedral.
The allocation, which was made to the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), failed to receive endorsement by the Committee because members want more answers from the sector Minister.
According to Tamale Central MP, Murtala Mohammed who disclosed this to JoyNews, until the Committee is satisfied, they will approve the Ministry’s estimates without the funds allocated to the National Cathedral.
“What the Committee decided was that we cannot just approve this GH₵80 million, we must know how the other ¢339 million was spent. What did it constitute?
“The ¢80 million you want us to approve, how did it find space in the budget line of the Ministry of Tourism when the Minister and the directors could not speak to the questions we were asking? What constitutes the ¢80 million, they should give us a breakdown,” he disclosed in an interview with JoyNews.
In the wake of the economic downturn, many are asking why the construction of the National Cathedral remains the subject of big-ticket spending in the spending plans of the government.
Already, some ¢339 million has been spent on the project, an edifice that President Akufo-Addo says is his personal pledge to God.
But, the Okyehene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin II has pleaded support for the building of the National Cathedral so as not to bring shame to President Akufo-Addo.
President Akufo-Addo has defended the need to complete the construction of the National Cathedral.
He insists that the controversial project will signify an appreciation to God who he believes has spared the country from conflicts and plagues over the years.
According to him, the project whose 2023 budgetary allocation approval has been suspended will be geared toward thanking God for “sparing us the ravages of civil war that have bedevilled the histories of virtually all our neighbours and the outbreak of deadly mass epidemics but also as a rallying point for the entire Christian community of Ghana, which represents seventy-plus per cent of the population.”
He spoke during the centenary celebration of the Ga Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at the Black Star Square in Accra on December 18.
Addressing the congregants, President Akufo-Addo further courted the support of Ghanaians to make the country a better place for all.
“I need the support of every Ghanaian, together with the prayers of the church, to help me and my government carry out our mandate successfully,” he added on Sunday.
Key among the clergy present at the event were the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante.
On December 13, the Trades and Industry Committee of Parliament put on hold the approval of ₵80 million allocated for the construction of the National Cathedral.
The allocation, which was made to the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), failed to receive endorsement by the Committee because members want more answers from the sector Minister.
According to Tamale Central MP, Murtala Mohammed who disclosed this to JoyNews, until the Committee is satisfied, they will approve the Ministry’s estimates without the funds allocated to the National Cathedral.
“What the Committee decided was that we cannot just approve this GH₵80 million, we must know how the other ¢339 million was spent. What did it constitute?
“The ¢80 million you want us to approve, how did it find space in the budget line of the Ministry of Tourism when the Minister and the directors could not speak to the questions we were asking? What constitutes the ¢80 million, they should give us a breakdown,” he disclosed in an interview with JoyNews.
In the wake of the economic downturn, many are asking why the construction of the National Cathedral remains the subject of big-ticket spending in the spending plans of the government.
Already, some ¢339 million has been spent on the project, an edifice that President Akufo-Addo says is his personal pledge to God.
But, the Okyehene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin II has pleaded support for the building of the National Cathedral so as not to bring shame to President Akufo-Addo.
According to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, deliberate policy changes made by the administration over the past few months are to blame for the cedi’s appreciation versus all major trading currencies.
“The strengthening of the cedi has not happened by happenstance,” claims President Akufo-Addo, “but through the implementation of intentional measures by Government, in partnership with the Bank of Ghana.”
The improvement of forex flows from remittances and the mining sector, as well as the staff level agreement with the IMF for a US$3 billion package, are among these measures, according to him. They also include “cedi liquidity tightening measures, resulting in the offloading of forex as a store of value by speculators”
Addressing the congregation, which included the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, he stated that with appropriate policy, determination and hard work on the part of Government, things are beginning to turn around.
Whilst acknowledging that the country was by no means “out of the woods yet”, he assured that Government will continue to work hard to maintain and sustain the gains made.
“Indeed, in the weeks ahead, the Bank of Ghana will continue with the purchases of forex from the mining and oil sectors to enhance liquidity supply to the market; continue with the single, unified forex forward auction and some modest targeted bilateral support to critical imports; and the implementation of the gold for oil swap transaction, which will significantly remove forex pressures on the cedi,” Akufo-Addo said.
He added his voice to those of GUTA, GRTCC and others to appeal to manufacturers, traders and transport operators who, at the height of the cedi’s recent depreciation, increased prices of goods and services, to reduce their prices now that the cedi is re-gaining much of its strength.
“I believe this is not only a fair request, but also a just one, and I urge all of you to join me in this clarion call, so we can all have a more pleasant Christmas,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo thanked the Presbyterian Church of Ghana for the support it continues to give for the construction of the National Cathedral.
He stated that, upon completion, the National Cathedral will serve not only as the country’s collective thanksgiving “to the Almighty for the blessings He has bestowed on our nation, sparing us the ravages of civil war that have bedeviled the histories of virtually all our neighbours, and the outbreak of deadly mass epidemics, but also as a rallying point for the entire Christian Community of Ghana, which represents seventy plus percent (70+%) of the population.”
The President, therefore, urged the Ga Presbytery, and, indeed, all Christians, to continue to pray for Ghana’s peace and unity, so the nation can move forward in unity.
“I need the support of every Ghanaian, together with the prayers of the Church, to help me and my government carry out our mandate successfully. Pray for me so that Almighty God will continue to give me wisdom, strength, courage and compassion to enable me execute my duties as a good leader. With Him, all things are possible, as the Battle is the Lord’s, for this too shall pass”, President Akufo-Addo said.
The allocation was the first time money had been specifically set aside for the project; prior payments had been made from the contingency fund.
Ken Ofori-Atta, the minister of finance, claims that more than GH330 million have already been spent from the fund.
The 2023 allocation was made in respect of the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), but the Committee’s said the previous disbursements will need to be justified along with the new allocation for the budgeted sum to be approved.
“What the Committee decided was that we cannot just approve this GH¢80 million, we must know how the other GH¢339 million was spent. What did it constitute?
“The GH¢80 million you want us to approve, how did it find space in the budget line of the Ministry of Tourism when the Minister and the directors could not speak to the questions we were asking? What constitutes the GH¢80 million, they should give us a breakdown,” he stressed.
Whiles efforts to get official records of the cost of the presidential jet travels have serially failed even through Parliament, the issue of the National Cathedral recently got concrete answers, especially from the Minister of Finance.
Ken Ofori-Atta disclosed while appearing before an ad hoc committee of Parliament that monies paid in lieu of the project were drawn from the Contingency Fund.
For the first time, government also included an expenditure item relating to the project in the 2023 budget with an amount of GH¢80 million cedis earmarked for disbursement.
The approval of GH80 million set aside for the National Cathedral‘s building has been held up by the Trades and Industry Committee of Parliament.
The allocation, which was made to the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), has failed to receive endorsement by the Committee because members want more answers from the sector Minister.
According to Tamale Central MP, Murtala Mohammed who disclosed this to the media, until the Committee is satisfied, they will approve the Ministry’s estimates without the funds allocated to the National Cathedral.
“What the Committee decided was that we cannot just approve this GH₵80 million, we must know how the other GH₵339 million was spent. What did it constitute?
“The GH₵80 million you want us to approve, how did it find space in the budget line of the Ministry of Tourism when the Minister and the directors could not speak to the questions we were asking? What constitutes the GH₵80 million, they should give us a breakdown,” he disclosed in an interview with JoyNews’ Parliamentary Affairs Correspondent, Kwaku Asante on Tuesday, December 13.
Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin II has requested Nananom of the Abuakwa Traditional Area’s assistance in mobilizing funds to complete the construction of Ghana’s National Cathedral.
“[The President] has to glorify God and complete that building to show his appreciation to what God has done for him and that he appreciates it.”
When completed, he claimed, the National Cathedral will serve as a gathering place for Christians from near and far, allowing them to learn everything there is to know about their faith without having to travel to Israel.
The Okyenhene made these remarks when the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana paid a courtesy call on him at Kyebi over the weekend.
The Board was at the Okyenhene’s palace to seek his support for the project.
Board member Dr Joyce Aryee said the controversies surrounding the project is not surprising due to the aggression of “darkness” against the “light” anytime a Christian project is to be built.
She said the first traditional authority to be visited is the Okyenhene, asking for support from the chiefs and people of Okyeman.
A 14.5-acre piece of valuable real estate with a football field-sized hole in the centre is located a few streets from Ghana’s statehouse in Accra.
The futuristic, 5,000-seat National Cathedral of Ghana should be rising out of the ground with its sweeping, concave roof.
Instead, the project has come to a standstill as a result of the West African nation’s economic problems. Up until recently, the country’s economy was among the fastest-growing in the world and a hub for foreign investment.
The cathedral’s original $100 million price tag has increased fourfold in the midst of an economic crisis that has resulted in record inflation and the cedi, the worst-performing currency in the world this year, losing about 60% of its value — almost double that of Ukraine.
With debt interest payments eating up more than half of government revenues Ghana has asked the IMF for a $3 billion bailout, proposed a debt restructuring that could involve losses of up to 30% for foreign investors, and is planning to barter some of the gold it produces for oil. It represents a sharp reversal in fortune from a sub-Saharan success story to the harbinger of what awaits several emerging markets that borrowed heavily at a time of low-interest rates but now face expensive repayments.
The country of 31 million people embodies a period when emerging-market borrowing by sovereign nations surged, hitting a record total of $250 billion in 2020, according to Bloomberg data. But its plight is a test case: if a country that until very recently was a darling of lenders is struggling to dig its way out of this crisis, how will other frontier markets fare?
The country’s economic descent has been swift. In February 2020 it raised $3 billion in a debt auction that the government said was five times oversubscribed. A little over a year later it was locked out of international debt markets altogether. Since January, it has repeatedly been downgraded to junk status by rating agencies.
It is not alone. At least 15 of the 72 emerging markets in a Bloomberg index including Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Tajikistan now have dollar debt trading at distressed levels, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fueled global energy and food price inflation. Central banks have responded by increasing interest rates, which has shrunk the available liquidity for junk-rated nations. At least $80 billion has flowed out of emerging-market debt funds this year.
A real estate company, Waterstone Realty Limited, has filed a lawsuit against the Lands Commission regarding the destruction of a two-story multifunctional building that was originally situated where the National Cathedral project is currently at.
The helpless innocent baby boy was found by a good samaritan who later blew an alarm for people to come around, according to an eyewitness report.
The unknown mother who dumped her day-old baby into the bush has faced the wrath of residents who witnessed the unfortunate incident.
According to most of these eyewitnesses who came across this shocking news, the perpetrator of such a heinous act will surely be exposed and be made to pay for her evil deeds.
The yet-to-be-identified mother who committed the crime has since gone into hiding as both residents and other security agencies have been pursuing her.
“God will surely punish the wicked mother who threw this child into the bush here,” an angry woman said.
“Why would you carry a baby for nine months and dump it into the bush just a few days after birth? Is that not madness? I pray God closes this person’s womb forever,” another woman said.
“This is a bigger abomination and the perpetrators will surely be exposed. They will pay for their evil deeds. How dare you throw a child into a bush alive?” another person reacted.
Justice Kyei Baffour Awuah aka Wofa Kusi, the Assembly Member for the area who earlier spoke to GhanaWeb said, it was good news the baby was alive.
He further revealed that the wicked woman who dumped the baby into the bush was going to be pursued by all efforts to be brought to book.
In an updated report, the honourable member revealed that the case which was initially lodged at the Afasiebon Police Station was later forwarded to the DOVVSU department of the Abuakwa divisional Police station.
He further revealed that as police seriously manhunt for the wicked mother, the baby had been put on a life-supporting treatment at the hospital.
Meanwhile, a thorough investigation by GhanaWeb at the time of filing this story revealed that the innocent baby was responding to treatment and that he will soon be discharged.
After two weeks of discussion, the proposal was adopted on December 6, 2022. Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta delivered it on November 24.
This year’s process went well because the Minority backed it, in contrast to 2021 when the Minority allegedly rejected the budget before the Majority overturned that rejection.
“As a Caucus after the 2020 budget, there has been series of engagements and questions has been raised as to the rationale for rejecting entire policy package of government when indeed it is one or two items that we disagree and we do have an opportunity to deal with those items independently.
“We have learnt lessons from that, and it really doesn’t make sense that we pursue an agenda to say that a complete package of policies by government should be rejected when the specifics that we disagree will be available for us to take a decision,” he explained.
He stressed that at later stages of the budget consideration, the Minority will scrutinize specific laws, some of which they will oppose having announced same to the public.
He assured that to the extent that the powers of the 136 National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs can go, “I am sure Ghanaians will be very happy if we resist up to the limit of the powers that they have given us and the limit of the powers that they have given us is 136 at the moment.”
He listed a number of the issues they will resist citing the Minority Leader’s concluding debate before the approval.
Among others, the threshold of the E-Levy must remain, it is to be scrapped per the 2023 budget. He, however disclosed that they will go with the proposed 1% rate because rejecting it will mean that the old rate remains because that law is still subsisting and in force.
They will also reject an amendment to increase VAT by 2.5%, reject allocation for the National Cathedral and also for the Contingency Vote, which he said had been abused after it emerged that government withdrew funds from the fund for the construction of the National Cathedral.
Waterstone Realty Limited, a real estate firm, has sued the Lands Commission over the demolition of a two-storey-multifunctional structure that was formerly located at the present location of the National Cathedral project.
According to the plaintiff’s summons, the defendant, the Lands Commission, compulsorily possessed and demolished its flat in 2018 for the development of the National Cathedral project.
As a result, Waterstone Realty Limited has requested the following monetary damages.
“An order directed at the defendants to pay the plaintiff of the sum of USD$4,721,000.00 being the market value of the two-storey multipurpose building complex at the time of compulsory possession and demolition by Defendants.”
It also wants the court to ask “the defendants to pay the plaintiff the sum of USD$995,508.52 being the difference in terms of the established market value of the plaintiff’s property on the land being the sum USD$4,721,000.00 and the actual value of the property as of May 2018 when the defendant repossessed the property being the value of the two-storey multipurpose building”.
The damages requested include a sum of $54,000 to be paid as rent loss.
Furthermore, Waterstone desires interest in the aforementioned quantities beginning June 1, 2018.
A judgement debt worth GHS120 million may hit Ghana over the construction of the national cathedral project, Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has revealed.
In a Facebook post, the legislator explained that Waterstone Realty Apartment Complex has dragged the Lands Commission to court for its “reckless decision” to demolish the Waterstone Realty Apartment Complex to pave way for the construction of the cathedral.
He blamed President Akufo-Addo for this development, adding that “Bad leadership created the current economic crisis.”
In a writ of summons, the plaintiff, Waterston Reality Limited noted that the defendant, Lands Commission, had been directed to pay the sum $4721000 being the market value of the two-storey multipurpose building complex at the time of compulsory possession and demolition by defendants.
A further order “directed at the defendants to pay the Plaintiff the sum of $995,508.52 being the difference in terms of the established market value of the plaintiff’s property on the land being the sum $4,721,000 and the actual value of the property as of May 2018 when the defendant repossessed the property,” per the document shared by Mr Ablakwa.
The Lands Commission was also to pay the sum of $54,000 being loss of rent, general damages and cost including cost of engagement of solicitors.
Meanwhile, work on the construction of the national cathedral has been halted due to insufficient funds.
On November 10, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader, introduced a motion in Parliament requesting a vote of censure against the Finance Minister for alleged economic mismanagement.
The motion, which was in accordance with Article 82 of the 1992 Constitution, cited seven grounds for the vote of censure.
Ground Two alleges the unconstitutional withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund in blatant contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution supposedly for the construction of the National Cathedral.
Ground Three alleges the illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts in flagrant violation of Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution.
Ground Four alleges deliberate and disreporting of economic data to Parliament, whereas Ground Five alleges fiscal recklessness leading to the crash of the Ghana cedi, which was currently the worst-performing currency in the world.
Ground Six accuses the Minister of alarming incompetence and frightening ineptitude resulting in the collapse of Ghana economy and an excruciating cost of living crisis; while Ground Seven alleges the gross mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy, which the Minority said had occasioned untold and unprecedented hardship.
Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, subsequently, referred the Motion to an eight-member bi-partisan Committee for further investigations and report to the House.
A three-day public hearing, consequently, commenced on Tuesday, November 15, during which the Minister denied any wrongdoing.
He, however, apologised to citizens for the economic difficulties they faced.
During the hearing the Minister’s lawyer raised an objection on Ground One by that the issue of conflict of interest was beyond the jurisdiction of Parliament so the Committee decided to refer that to the plenary for consideration.
With regard to Ground Three, the Committee after hearing testimonies from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and the Public Interest and Accountability Committee, decided there was no need for the Minister to respond to the issue and decided to submit a written report on it to the plenary.
The bi-partisan Committee had Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga East for the Minority Caucus, and Mr Kobina Tahir Hammond, New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Adansi Asokwa, for the Majority Caucus, as Co-Chairmen.
The Minority Members of the Committee included Samuel Okudzoto Ablakwa, MP for North Tongu; Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, MP for Klottey-Korle, and Mr Bernard Ahiafor, MP for Akatsi South.
Members of the Majority side included Mr Patrick Yaw Boamah, MP for Okaikkwei Central; Mr Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, MP for Asante-Akyim Central; and Mr Andrew Egyapa Mercer, MP for Secondi.
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 Cathedralhas 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-Addomade 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.
The Finance Ministry has revealed that an amount of ¢339,003,064.86 has been released for the construction of the National Cathedral so far.
The Ministry also added that a total amount of ¢113,040,654.86 has been paid to the consulting firm for the construction of the Cathedral, Messers Sir David Adjaye and Associates.
This was contained in a document from the Ministry to the parliamentary Adhoc Committee based on a request for the total amount spent by the Government on the National Cathedral.
According to the Ministry, the latest amount spent was ¢25million in March 2022, which was the Government of Ghana’s contribution to the construction of the Cathedral.
The Committee also demanded that Mr Ken Ofori-Atta provides the total amount paid to the consulting firm, Messers Sir David Adjaye and Associates, a clarification of the total energy sector payments to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and the total debt accumulated prior to 2020.
In relation to amounts paid to IPPs, the Ministry said a total amount of ¢17.31 billion was paid.
The IPPs which received these payments include; Karpower, Cenpower, Amandi Energy, Sunon Asogli, Ameri Energy and AKSA.
Out of the amount, ¢10.01 billion was paid as a shortfall in capacity and ¢4.99 billion was used as excess capacity payments while the remaining ¢7.31 billion was used for payments to fuel suppliers for the period mentioned.
He asserts that the president makes decisions based on matters that impact the nation as a whole, thus “we cannot claim that the cathedral is the president’s personal property,” even though some may question how much money is invested there.
Interviewed on the Happy Morning Show during a debate regarding allegations made by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta that Akufo-Addo was not involved in the building of the National Cathedral because it was state-owned.
“The president made a promise to initiate Free Senior High School when voted as president, also during the Covid-19 invasion there was the construction of the Ghana disease control centre which was built by a private company so if the president brings an initiate, it is for the state not for him,” he told Samuel Eshun.
His reaction comes after the finance minister Ken Ofori Atta made claims before the committee set up by the Speaker of Parliament to probe issues concerning over 90 MPs calling for his dismissal, the finance minister said that the National Cathedral is 100% owned by the state and not the presidency.
Numbering about 90, the MPs who constitute a greater number of the Majority Caucus threatened to vote against all government businesses that will come before the House.
The National Cathedral of Ghana is a planned interdenominational Christian Cathedral scheduled to be built in Accra, the nation’s capital as part of Ghana’s 60th-anniversary celebrations. The design for the Cathedral was unveiled by the president of Ghana, Nana Akufo Addo in March 2018.
The announcement of the Cathedral orchestrated a lot of criticisms from Ghanaians since they feel the economic hardships in the country should be tackled rather than building a Cathedral.
