The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame has denied the conflict of interest claims against him by Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa in relation to the National Cathedral saga.
A Press Statement issued by the Attorney-General demanded a retraction and apology failing which he would file a civil action against the North Tongu lawmaker.
I consider the allegations by Mr. Okuclzeto Ablakwa malevolent and ill-inspired for the simple reason that a cursory examination of the facts would have revealed the untruth in them. l call on the Member of Parliament to retract and apologise to the public for the falsehood he has published against me, failing which I may institute legal action against him,” he stated.
According to Ablakwa, who is an avowed critic of the National Cathedral Project, the Attorney General was caught up in a conflict of interest situation when he(Godfred Yeboah Dame) who served on the Board of the Public Procurement Authority(PPA) was also registered as a Secretary for the National Cathedral at the time of incorporation on July 18, 2019.
“It is quite revealing to observe that when the National Cathedral was incorporated on 18th July, 2019; the then Deputy AG, Godfred Dame was registered as Secretary. During that same period, he served on the board of the PPA which approved Adjaye’s irregular sole sourcing contract,” Okudzeto Ablakwa alleged.
But the Attorney General in his reaction has described as utter falsehood being peddled against him by the MP.
He explained that “at the time of the approval by PPA (on whose governing board I served in my former capacity as Deputy Attorney-General), no company known as the National Cathedral of Ghana had been formed for me to be Secretary of, or have any purported interest in to declare. I could not have had a so-called interest in a non-existent company.”
He added:”Approval of an application to single-source Messrs. Sir David Adjaye & Associates was granted by the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) on 13th December 2018.
The National Cathedral of Ghana was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee (non-profit making entity) on 18. July 2019,” he cleared in his statement on Wednesday.
Source: Kasapafmonline.com