The amount paid directly to the Consultant, Adjaye Associates & Design Team, in connection with the National Cathedral is GH¢113.040.54.67 million, Executive Director Dr Paul Opoku Mensah has revealed.
Speaking at a bible-reading marathon on Monday, 2 January 2023, Dr Opoku Mensah clarified that all the funds allocated to the construction of the edifice have been accounted for to the pesewa and none went missing.
He said GH¢339 million of state funds has been expended on the cathedral as of December 2022.
Dr. Opoku Mensah reported to President Akufo-Addo and the media at the event: “For purposes of clarity, I want to report a verbatim memo I sent on this issue dated 19 January 2022 and addressed to the Clerk of Parliament”.
“The indication was that the government has given us GH¢339 million and we could account for GH¢225 million leaving GH¢114 million missing”, he noted.
“Here, I quote what I wrote to the Clerk: ‘As we indicated to the Committee on Thursday, December 15, 2022, the total amount paid by the government of Ghana to the National Cathedral project is GH¢339 million. This total is made up of the following: the amount paid directly to the National Cathedral Secretariat is GH¢225 million. The amount paid directly to the Consultant, Adjaye Associates & Design Team is GH¢113.040.54.67 million. The two payments total GH¢339.003.064.86’.”
Dr. Opoku Mensah, thus, dispelled claims that some monies allocated for the construction of the cathedral cannot be accounted for.
“So, there are no missing funds that could not be accounted for. Secondly, the detailed account for these funds was provided to Parliament on 15 December 2022 by the Secretariat”.
“In the case of the accounting from the Secretariat, this involves among others, total payments made to the contractor, and total payments made to the Bible Museum and Biblical Gardens Design Team.”
He also expressed the secretariat’s displeasure at the “misrepresentation” of facts on the project by some Members of Parliament.
“While projects of this nature will always have discontent, we are nonetheless concerned about the misrepresentations, particularly when it comes from Members of Parliament”, he mentioned.
“For instance, the continued misrepresentation of the contract to the consultants is worrying as none of the amount bandied around comes anywhere near the contract amount.
“Rather than 34% that they said we’d paid the architect, actually, the contract figure is 12.5% when the Ministry of Works and Housing allows for 15.5%. And the 12.5% will not change irrespective of what happens to the total cost”.
“More critically, the contract is not for an architect, but for a set of consultants’ services involving 15 international and Ghanaian firms of which Sir David Adjaye Associates is the lead consultant.”
In the 2023 budget, the government allocated a sum of GH¢80 million toward the construction of the cathedral, however, the minority caucus succeeded in disapproving it.
The money was, however, reallocated to the communications and road sectors.
Source: Ghana Web
