Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, is demanding accountability from the government over the US$58.1million of taxpayer funds illegally withdrawn to fund the construction of the national cathedral project.
In a Twitter post on May 30, the MP fumed over what he believes to be a case of misappropriation by the government with regards to the expenditure for the construction the cathedral.
According to Mr Ablakwa, out of the total sum withdrawn without parliamentary approval, government paid $22.07million to RIBADE JV for the actual construction of the project.
“According to documents submitted to Parliament when we demanded a detailed breakdown of how the US$58.14million (GHS339,003,064.86) was spent, the contractors provided comprehensive analysis of how they utilized the US$22.07million received between January 2021 and February 2022 when they had to suspend work for “lack of funds” even though far more money had been released from government coffers, albeit on the blindside of Parliament,” he wrote.
For this reason, Mr Ablakwa holds the assertion that “more than US$36million was expended on other items other than their core function of construction.”
Mr Ablakwa is infuriated by the fact that although “transparency and truth have never been in such short supply” government continues to demand more the project.
He argued that government cannot demand US$100million to import steel while failing to explain “why only a measly 37.9% of taxpayer funds went into actual construction much against industry best practice.”
“National” Cathedral contractor, RIBADE JV received only US$22.07million out of the US$58.1million of taxpayer funds illegally withdrawn for the project.
— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) May 30, 2023
Ghanaians are not angry enough.
It is absolutely incredible that with the avalanche of scandals which cannot even fit into pic.twitter.com/aVL7KHz3qy
He strongly insists that government and the National Cathedral Secretariat “should be rendering full account of how all the categories of funds raised locally and internationally have been used; and how they still managed to create the world’s most expensive pit.”
The North Tongu MP noted that government cannot be evasive with accountability since “owners of the multiple structures demolished are still waiting to be compensated (and) others are in court demanding justifiable compensation.”
Also, Mr Ablakwa wants clarifications on how the contractors, RIBADE JV, have been able to deliver “questionable” results with an amount of $22.07million.
Meanwhile, the legislator has stated that contrary to the claims by Executive Director, Dr. Paul Opoku Mensah that two floors have already been constructed underground, the contractors, RIBADE JV, report to Parliament that they have only carried out excavations.
Also, field visits to the site, he added do not show completed underground floors but “all we have seen is a ‘massive pit in the centre of the city'”.
Source: The Independent Ghana