Akufo-Addo cannot complete Nat’l Cathedral project by 2024 – Okudzato Ablakwa
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzato Ablakwa has said that there is no way the National Cathedral project by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo can be completed by 2024.
He said the president has been giving false hopes that the project will be completed by 2024.
He indicated that if funds had not been diverted, contractors would have still been on site. “That is why those of us who have been following the cathedral project have a good laugh anytime the President assures the nation with those hollow assurances that the cathedral would be completed by next year.”
“It’s a big joke. The president is building a castle in the sky when right before us we can see a galamsey site. I know for certain from the documents we have, the people we have spoken to are clear in our mind that the project cannot be completed. ”
The North Tongu MP again disclosed to Helen Appiah Ampofo on the 3FM Sunrise Morning Show that so far the contractors working on the national cathedral project have only received far less than 15% the funds needed to complete the project.
He pointed out that the national cathedral project has been smeared with lies and lack of transparency which is discouraging private individuals and groups from donating to the course of the cathedral.
Ablakwa again mentioned that the diversion of funds raises the issue of whether people went into this national cathedral project for personal gains. These diversions have led to the situation whereby work has stalled for ten months now due to lack of funds.
Another shocking expose according to the legislator is that a company with absolutely no track record in construction and no track record in design. “They have absolutely no business coming near this project. The company is called JNS Talent Center Limited. From the Registrar General’s records that company is registered to provide skill and talent development not construction”.
“The insurers for the entire national cathedral project is Enterprise Insurance, a company that Ken Ofori-Atta is intimately associated with. His wife as a director and everybody knows Ken has a beneficial interest in Enterprise Insurance. That is a clear case of conflict of interest and it explains why Ken was so keen in releasing funds for this project even without parliamentary approval after deceiving the clergy and the entire Ghanaians that the cathedral will not be built with public funds” Mr. Ablakwa alleges
Mr. Okudzato Ablakwa also maintained that it is an emotional blackmail for President Akufo-Addo to describe people who criticize the cathedral project as Tobiah and Sanballat in the bible book of Nehemiah.
“We will not be discouraged or perturbed with the name calling and blackmail. This cathedral project by Akufo-Addo lacks transparency” he said.
