National Cathedral is a national pledge, John Kumah
Ghanaians ask government to prioritise other needs
Deputy Minister of Finance, John Kumah, has noted that even though President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made a personal pledge to build the National Cathedral, he cannot be expected to use his personal funds to execute the project.
According to him, the building of the National Cathedral is also a national pledge.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile, the Minister noted that “if the president comes to Ejisu to promise to do a school project for us or build a church for us, or do our roads for us, even though it is his personal pledge, it is also a national pledge. You don’t expect his Excellency the President to use his personal pocket money to come and fix that unless he says I am personally going to build it for you.”
His comments come after several concerns have been raised about the timing of the National Cathedral project – a time when Ghana is facing an economic downturn.
Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simmons had earlier alleged that the National Cathedral project has been quietly negotiated to US$400million.
According to Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, the renegotiated figures have been necessitated as a result of the lack of sync between the construction company, Rizzani de Eccher, and the architects, Adjaye and Associates.
The latest figure of the project cost represents a 300% increase from the initial figure of US$100 million that was communicated by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in November 2019.
“A few months ago, the Govt of Ghana quietly renegotiated contract sums on the National Cathedral to a whopping $400 MILLION after significant confusion & rancour over earlier design work btwn (between) builders G. Eccher & architects, Adjaye Associates,” Simons wrote in a June 24 tweet.
SSD/BOG
John Kumah, Deputy Minister of Finance