The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, purported that the government is currently seeking a US $50 million loan to build a new Judicial Service Training Institute (JSTI) after demolishing it to create space for the national cathedral.
According to him, the cost of building the cathedral, which is now said to be US $350 million, is just the tip of the iceberg, and it is likely to increase to US $450 million (GHS3.5 billion).
“We estimate not less than US$100million (about GHS800million) would be used as compensation for all affected. This includes the cost of relocating the Malian Ambassador’s Residence to Airport Residential, outstanding payments to private business owners such as Waterstone Realty Ltd and ComSys Ghana Ltd, and the cost of constructing a new Judicial Training Institute at the proposed Cocoa Affairs Court land.
“Government and the Chief Justice are currently desperately looking for a US$ 50 million loan to construct a new Judicial Service Training Institute after Ghana’s reputable judicial training institute was razed to the ground to pave way for the construction of the national cathedral.
“So one needs to always remember to add US$100million to the latest figure of US$350million as the real cathedral cost. A rather costly US$450million (GHS3.5billion) personal presidential pledge to God,” Ablakwa alleged in a post on his Facebook page on Saturday, June 18.
There have been further lamentations on how the Akuffo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party government continues to plunge the country into more debt amidst excruciating economic hardship.
“If this was a functioning democracy, we the people should have first been engaged whether this is how we will want our government to spend a colossal GHS3.5billion, particularly during this period of debilitating economic crisis typified by a cost of living nightmare,” he cried.
Ablakwa and other opposition MPs, civil society organisations and altruistic Ghanaians have opposed building a national cathedral at a critical time when the country is struggling under horrible financial challenges, with the price of dwelling being at an all-time high.
The cathedral building was initially said to be purely a private sector-driven initiative, but it has now cropped out to light that state resources are been pumped into it, without any proper accountability and transparency.
Source: Pulse Ghana