Government blows over GH¢339 million on National Cathedral construction - Osei-Asare reveals

The Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Abena Osei-Asare, informed Parliament on July 3 that the government has so far released more than GH¢339 million for the construction of the National Cathedral since 2020.

Abena Asare clarified that the Ministry of Finance had initially committed to contributing both the land and seed money for the National Cathedral in the previous year's budget.

According to her, this allocation was aimed at providing the necessary funding to propel the project forward.

"From the onset, the Ministry of Finance mentioned that our contribution to the National Cathedral would be the land and some seed money, and this was in the previous year's budget,” she said.

Despite the project experiencing several months of delay and remaining at the foundation level, the Finance Ministry has assured Parliament and the public that the funds have been utilized efficiently.

She asserted that a value-for-money audit conducted in 2021 corroborated this claim, affirming the project's financial integrity.

She disclosed that Deloitte Ghana had commenced a statutory audit of the National Cathedral’s accounts in July 2023, which is still ongoing.

"The auditors have concluded the audit for the 18 months accounts ended December 31, 2020. Preparations are in place for the auditors to complete the remaining accounts for the years ending December 31, 2021, 2022, and 2023,” she added.

She assured that records are available, detailing all payments made towards the National Cathedral.

AM/EK

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