National Cathedral: We're calling on bondholders yet we've given millions to an architect - NPP MP

We are now calling on a poor person to suspend his bond repayment while one person is gone with millions of dollars," bemoans NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Bortianor-Ngleshie-Amanfro, Sylvester Tetteh.

The MP was reacting to controversies surrounding the National Cathedral project and the amount of money paid to Architect David Adjaye.

Adjaye Associates led by Sir David Adjaye proposed the design for the National Cathedral project.

According to the Executive Director of the National Cathedral Secretariat, Dr Paul Opoku-Mensah an amount of GHȼ113m was paid directly to Sir David Adjaye.

“The total amount paid by the government of Ghana to the project is GHȼ339 million. The amount is made up of the following; amount paid directly to the secretariat is GHȼ225 million and the amount paid directly to the consultant, Adjaye Associates is GHȼ113m. The two payments total GHȼ339m,” he said.

Sly Tetteh speaking on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', described as "unfortunate" the amount of money "given to one person".

Even though he "is not against the construction of the cathedral", he believes there are a lot of other architects in the country who would've done the architectural drawings for free.

"I had my own reservation about this project especially the consultancy for the drawing, for David Adjaye. I've said it already and I'll repeat it again; if we need architects for the cathedral, there are lots of them in this country. Some can even decide to do it for free because it's for the House of God but look at the cost, the amount of money we've given to one person in the name of architectural drawing," he said.

" . . I support the Cathedral but there are some of the things I think it is wrong and we've said it one too many. He's (Adjaye) gone with the money . . . we are now calling on a poor person to suspend his bond repayment while one person is gone with millions of dollars. Why doesn't he return the money since the Cathedral has not been built . . . that's how much we paid and that's unfortunate," he cried.