The government of the Republic of Ghana is expected to spend some ¢9.2 million, as the cost for the relocation of the Ridge passport office to make room for the construction of the infamous national cathedral.
Honourable Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ranking Member on the Committee for Foreign Affairs, says he is disturbed by the amount of money the relocation of the office would cost and wondered why the government would want to spend that much.
Hon Okudzeto, who doubles as the member of parliament for North Tongu went on to say, the money meant for this endeavour could be channelled towards addressing the difficulties in implementing the Free Senior High School in the country.
This, according to him will be a much better use of the country’s scare resources.
The interdenominational National Cathedral is set to be built at Ridge in Accra and work is expected to begin in March 2020. This was announced by the Finance Minister during his presentation of the 2020 Budget and Economic Policy in Parliament on November 13, 2019.
The Finance Minister revealed, the process to choose a contractor for the project is already underway and expected to be done before the close of 2019.
He went on to say, the essence of the cathedral is to unite the Christian community in the country and to promote the national conversation on the role of faith in building Ghana.
Defending the action of the government to demolish buildings in the designated area for the cathedral is the Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral, Rev Victor Kusi Boateng.
He was sighted in an interview saying, people criticising the demolition process for construction work to begin are novices in the discussion of the construction.
There was only occasional disagreement over the government’s intention to build the National Cathedral at an estimated cost of $100 million, but Mr Ablakwa continues to insist this expenditure is a needless one.
The legislator would like the government to disclose to Ghanaians how much exactly the government spent on pulling down the places of residence of the High court judges, done last year.
