We have no information on construction of the National Cathedral – PPA tells Ablakwa

The Public Procurement Authority has confirmed not having any information relating to the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana.

This was contained in a letter responding to a Right To Information, RTI, request filed by Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

Ablakwa who had been at the forefront of disclosing issues he described as bordering on corruption and corporate governance infractions said in a Facebook post that he had made the July 4 request to establish the procurement status regarding the construction of the cathedral by RIBADE Company Limited.

“To my utter shock, the PPA’s Chief Executive, Mr. Frank Mante, responded in a 5th July, 2022 letter that it “holds no information relating to the construction of the National Cathedral by Ribade Company Ltd.” (See attached).

“It is absolutely despicable to discover the sinful levels of recklessness and lawlessness which the Akufo-Addo government is exhibiting in the construction of a massive US$400million cathedral which has already siphoned a colossal GHS200million of public funds, albeit unconstitutionally, without any regard, whatsoever, for Ghana’s procurement laws,” he said in a Facebook post dated July 6.

The lawmaker quoted relevant laws from the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) that had been violated by the government relative to procurement processes involving the construction.

He observed further that: “… it is obvious from the PPA response to my RTI request that their board have granted no waiver or ratification as they may consider under exceptional circumstances.”

The project has recently been mired in a raft of controversies among others corruption relating to payments made to the architect and issues Parliamentary breaches and corporate governance issues.

Ablakwa, who has been at the forefront of the exposure insists that the government has committed public funds in excess of 200 million cedis to the project.

Meanwhile, construction works on the Cathedral site have stalled due to the unavailability of funds.