Previous spending on National Cathedral dubious – Ahmed Ibrahim

The Minority in Parliament says the disapproval of the GH¢80 million allocation for the construction of the National Cathedral by the house suggests that previously allocated funds to the project were through dubious means.

Parliament on Wednesday disapproved the fund meant for the project after the Minority voted against the allocation over the government’s failure to account for the previous expenditure on the National Cathedral.

Speaking to Citi News, the Deputy Minority Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim says until the Finance Ministry accounts for the funds, the Minority would not support the project.

“Why is that, for the very first time as a nation, we sat on a budget for the National Cathedral? If the Finance Minister claims that the previous expenditure was approved, why is this one now gaining public attention? It presupposes that, where they were getting money from for the building was from dubious means”.

He added that the 2023 budget presented by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta depicts that he has lost touch with occurrences in the country.

“If you read this budget, the Finance Minister is deeply disconnected from the happenings in this country. He said we are suspending all Capital Expenditure but allocated GH¢80 million for a National Cathedral. In this same budget, the minister allocated GH¢1.4 billion to demolish and reconstruct the Accra International Conference Centre.”

In the 2023 budget, GH¢80 million was allocated to fund the project despite the current economic crisis.

But the Minority in Parliament voted against the approval of budget estimates of GH¢80 million for the construction of the National Cathedral for 2023 which the House subsequently upheld.

It followed the failure of the Finance Ministry to account for an amount of GH¢114 million out of the GH¢339 million spent so far on the project.

This is because President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been unwavering in his resolve to build the National Cathedral in Ghana.