The minority in the House of Representatives has given notice that it will carefully examine the funding the government is pouring into the National Cathedral.
Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu promised that no question would go unanswered when the 2023 budget was presented for discussion on Tuesday, November 29. She cited several controversies and a lack of transparency in the project's construction as issues that needed to be resolved.
The construction of the structure has been fraught with controversy, as many Ghanaians continue to wonder whether it is wise for the government to fund what is allegedly President Akufo-personal Addo's promise to God.
While ensuring that the Minority Caucus is not opposed to the construction of such a monument, Haruna Iddrisu said that the discussion lacked crucial details regarding the budgetary allocation, purchasing, and other issues at a post-budget engagement in Ho.
"Ghana is a secular state and a Republic that guarantees freedom of belief, conscience, and religion, but when you make a budgetary allocation for the construction of a national cathedral at GH80 million, we must know what is the total cost of that project, how procurements were undertaken to ensure value for money, what is the duration of the project, how much will it cost the State, and when will the project be completed."
We will ask these important questions as we support it, he continued.
The project has run into financial issues after Ken Ofori-Atta, the minister of finance, instructed the Controller and Accountant General in a letter that was sent in May 2022 to credit Ribade Limited with the sum of GH25 million as partial payment for unpaid claims. It is obvious that the president's promise that the project wouldn't be funded by State money was broken by this command and payment.
The President's Cathedral was purportedly being built, according to the Minority in Parliament, when Ofori-Atta was accused of making "unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in blatant breach of Article 78 of the 1992 Constitution."
The Minister refuted the charge, saying "with both humility and confidence, I have not infringed the Constitution in making donations to support the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana," when he appeared before an 8-member ad hoc committee looking into the claims against him.