The Minority in Parliament has challenged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to speak on the scandal that has hit construction of the National Cathedral.
According to the Minority, since the President is the genesis of the cathedral project, which he said is a personal pledge to God, it is just expedient that he speaks on the scandal that has rocked the project.
The Caucus argued not only has the National Cathedral been caught up in procurement breaches, public funds have also been dissipated for that purpose without recourse to the financial laws of the country.
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa who threw the challenge during an interview in Parliament charged the President to stop hiding from the matter and publicly address the scandal.
He said, “This is a project he describes as his priority. He is the one who started this whole thing as a personal pledge that he says he made to God. Hasn’t he heard about all these infractions,” he quizzed?
Mr. Okudzeto questioned how President Akufo-Addo could turn a blind eye to the unconstitutionality, illegalities and breaches uncovered about the National Cathedral project.
According to him, President Akufo-Addo acted as a conveyor belt to remove former EC Commissioner Charlotte Osei from office when he was petitioned largely on procurement breaches.
He said, “Charlotte Osei was removed from office on procurement breaches and people forget that.”
“People are being prosecuted, political opponents of President Akufo-Addo are being prosecuted. Some are actually languishing in jail. The NCA officials, remember, and yet this is what is going on.”
“Their breaches come nowhere near this flagrant violation; can you imagine the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) has no record at all and they were not even contacted or approached,” he stated.
Mr. Ablakwa argued that under the law if the Finance Minister wants to make an exception based on national security or whatever reason, this must be published in the Gazette.
The Minority, he said, has checked the Gazette and there is no such record while the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) has also declared it has not granted any waiver or ratified any procurement in relation to the National Cathedral.
According to him, per the PPA Act 2003, Act 663 section 14 (1a) all projects being funded partially or fully with public funds must be subject to the procurement laws.
“Section 14(2e) also provides in very unambiguous terms that once the entity is a state-owned enterprise, to the extent that public funds are involved in the project, you require PPA approval.”
“All these sections of the Public Procurement Act have been flagrantly violated.
“So how did Rebade Company Limited come by this massive contract, which is now at $400 million. It started at $100 million and went to $250 million. The latest that Rebade has published on their website is that they have negotiated with the Ghanaian government and they have won a $400 million contract.”
“How did they win that contract? How were they selected,” he queried?
Mr. Okudzeto argued the advantage of going through a public procurement process legally is that it gets the state value for money.
He challenged President Akufo-Addo to make a statement publicly on this wanton dissipation of the public funds that he vowed to protect when he was voted into office.