The National Cathedral is not a misplaced priority – NPP MP

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah has defended the government for prioritizing the National Cathedral.

He said the Akufo-Addo led government has embarked on various projects across the country therefore adding the national cathedral shouldn’t be an issue.

Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday June 4, he said the project “is not a misplaced priority” and further explained that the government has embarked on a number of projects including the free senior high school initiative to help the people of this country.

He further indicated that the Finance Ministry informed Parliament that the government was going to make a seed capital available for the project. Therefore, he can’t understand the issues raised against the 25million cedis earmarked by the government for the project.

The National Cathedral has been in the news for the few days after it was revealed that the government has released GHS25 million as seed a capital for the project.

The release has led to disagreements between the Minority Caucus in Parliament and the government.

The Minority said it is not even aware of the procurement processes that were followed in the release of the funds.

“MPs have not approved all of these colossal sums of money that are being released to companies we are seeing for the first time.”

“We are not even aware of the procurement processes that were followed for these companies and these consultants, who are today receiving hundreds of millions of Ghana cedis,” Mr. Ablakwa said at a press conference on Thursday, June 2.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa also revealed that the government paid GHS32 million as consultancy fee to David Adjaye and Associates for the cathedral.

In a post on social media, the NDC lawmaker shared a document indicating the payment and the alleged work done.

“Documents from the Office of the President confirm that in 2021 alone, Prez Akufo-Addo authorised an astonishing GHC32million of taxpayer funds to be paid to Sir David Adjaye & Associates Ltd for consultancy on his National Cathedral project”, he wrote.

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