A member of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Dr Clement Abass Apaak, has described the government’s allocation of GH₵25 million for the construction of the National Cathedral as ‘illegal’.
According to the MP for Builsa South Constituency in the Upper East Region, the government through the Finance Ministry should have presented an appropriation bill to the House to be passed but they failed to follow due process.
It would be recalled that the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, signed a letter addressed to the Controller and Account General, directing that a seed money of GH₵25,000,000 be credited to the accounts of Ribade Limited as part of the payment for the project.
The letter read in part, “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,”
Reacting to same, Dr Clement Apaak said President Akufo-Addo is “engaged in extreme lawlessness”.
“The President, in swearing the oath, indicated that he would protect the constitution of this republic, but look this is not the only time that this president has thrown this same constitution that has given him the opportunity to govern this country to the dogs,” the legislator added in an interview granted 3 news, monitored by Angelonline.com.gh.
Dr Clement Apaak added that the National Cathedral was never presented to the House in a budget as an item with financial allocations made to it for approval and “we have passed an appropriation bill and I know no instance where we have allocated any money to the National Cathedral.”
“So essentially, the GH₵57 million, the GH₵25 million …have all been done contrary to laid down law and procedure and to the detriment of the good people of this country without due regard to the constitution and its provisions,” he added.
He also expressed worry that PAC cannot examine the expenditure or transactions performed in matters relating to the cathedral because it has not been captured in the budget presented to the House and consequently not “captured [in the Auditor General’s report] for us to see if the resources allocated to the said National Cathedral were duly applied to that National Cathedral.”
“In this matter, it is pure criminality and a lack of regard for the constitution. It is a breach of the law. The President has no mandate. The Finance Minister has no mandate to have released monies for this nation.”
