The Chief Executive Officer of the J.A. Kufuor Foundation, Prof. Baffuor Agyemang Duah, has described the scandals that have befallen the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana as a tragedy.
Speaking in an interview on XYZ TV, which was monitored by GhanaWeb, Prof. Agyamang Duah said that the cathedral project was supposed to be spearheaded by the clergy, but it appears some individuals are making the decisions for them.
“The whole project was ill-conceived… initially my thinking was that this was a private initiative, which means that funds would be mobilised privately. And I think they attempted that; because I understand that they engaged somebody, a fundraiser, to do that, and perhaps because the private fundraising did not go well, that is why they decided to use state money for what they call seed money.
“The fact is that the controversies about the cathedral reflect a very flawed national project, badly conceived and badly executed. And the government succeeded in lining up some respectable individuals to be the face of the project,” he said.
“And from what we are hearing from members who have resigned, major decisions concerning the project were not even taken by the Board of Trustees. It seemed like there were some private individuals behind it who were making all the decisions… so mixing private sentiments and desires with public resources and topping it with religious faces is what has caused this tragedy,” he added.
Prof. Agyemang Duah, a governance expert, noted that the modus operandi of the stakeholders involved in the construction of the cathedral was not in consonance with good governance practices.
He also said that he is not surprised about the scandals that are now meeting the construction of the cathedral.
Prof. Agyeman Duah made these remarks while reacting to the latest corruption exposé on the National Cathedral by MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, portions of which suggested impropriety on the part of the secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng.
On January 16, 2023, the MP made some allegations against Rev. Kusi Boateng, who is the secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana.
In an earlier revelation about the National Cathedral, Okudzeto Ablakwa said a whopping GHC 2.6 million was dished out to a company named JNS Talent Centre Limited.
Further investigations into the alleged payment led to the discovery of one Kwabena Adu Gyamfi as a director of JNS Talent Centre.
Having confirmed the identities of two out of the three directors of the centre, Ablakwa dug deeper in a bid to discover the identity of the third director, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
According to his findings, citing a number of documents, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi was the same as Reverend Kusi Boateng, who had allegedly been operating under the pseudonym Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
But Kusi Boateng, in a statement sighted by GhanaWeb, said that the allegations made against him by Ablakwa are mere fabrications.
He said that the accusations the MP made against him were for political purposes, adding that he has not engaged in any criminal activity in his dealings with the National Cathedral project.
Rev. Kusi Boateng also said that he is waiting on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), which has been petitioned by Ablakwa, to investigate him.
He added that he will explore the legal options available to him against the MP for deliberately defaming him.
Source: ghanaweb.com
