In 2021, the government of Ghana paid the chief consultant on the National Cathedral of Ghana project, Sir David Adjaye, an extra US$5.8m according to Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
According to the MP for North Tongu, the sum was compensation for changes to the original architectural plan that Adjaye had completed.
Records provided to Parliament by the National Cathedral administration in 2022 show that GH113.040.54.67 million was paid directly to Adjaye Associates & Design Team.
Ablakwa elaborated in a Facebook post from February 7, 2023, on the precise efforts that resulted in the over US$5.8 million payment:
The heartbreaking images of Ghana’s pensioners and vulnerable senior citizens picketing at the Finance Ministry when they should be enjoying a well-deserved restful and happy retirement with their grandchildren is undoubtedly the result of reckless mismanagement and cruel dissipation of the nation’s resources by this Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/Ofori-Atta inept government.
Newly secured cathedral documents reveal that just for a minor design variation of including a 300+ seater restaurant and expansion of an already paid for Bible museum, the government paid David Adjaye an additional outrageous and extortionate US$5.8million (specifically US$5,817,769.65; amounting to a staggering GHS33,539,442.03 in 2021).
This latest information confirms that so far, the Ghanaian taxpayer has coughed up an exorbitant US$25,444,192.42 (GHS152.6 million) solely for Adjaye’s cathedral architectural designs.
It’s unclear whether this sum was included in the initial report of expenses submitted to Parliament or whether it comes from a separate source.
In December 2022, the country’s Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, informed parliament that the country’s GHC339 million Contingency Support had been used to fund the project.
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Source – Tru News Report
