It has come to light that the government has not yet settled the debts incurred by the people whose homes and businesses had to be destroyed to make space for the building of the National Cathedral.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a member of parliament for North Tongu, shared this information with the audience.
In the course of Ablakwa’s mission to expose the government led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for violating the constitution in regard to the construction of the National Cathedral, it was discovered that the government of Ghana owes Waterstone Realty Ltd. a compensation amount of $6.5 million.
He claimed that the government had failed to provide the first-stage compensation to the aforementioned corporation by failing to allot 1.26 acres of property located in the Ridge Residential Area to the company.
In a post on Twitter, he made the following statement: “In our latest exposé on the Akufo-Addo cathedral scandal, we reveal that despite the colossal unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in excess of GH200 million, and despite contractors abandoning site for lack of payment; Government still owes some of the people whose properties were demolished.”
He added: “The high-rise commercial luxury flats owned by Waterstone Realty Ltd. were demolished in their entirety. According to the assessments, they are eligible to receive somewhere about $6.5 million in compensation.
That is equivalent to a stunning 1.6 million Ghana cedis at the current exchange rate. Just try to picture what this poor economy might accomplish with 51.6 million Ghana cedis in addition to all of the other devastating compensation sums.
“Given that the company has been giving the government notice since the 4th of November 2021 that they will be proceeding to the court having run out of patience, perhaps we should expect Ken Ofori-Atta to carry out another unconstitutional withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund within the next few days.
Considering that the company has been giving the government notice since the 4th of November 2021 that they will be proceeding to the court having run out of patience.
It is worth noting that typical of this chaotic-property grabbing government, a 12th August 2020 allocation of approximately 1.26 acres of land situate at Ridge Residential Area by the Lands Commission as a first stage compensation to Waterstone Ltd has so far failed because powerful elements in the Akufo-Addo government are scrambling and scheming to buy the same piece of land — once again, not even the holy task of building the temple of the Lord appears to be restrained enough.
Several months after the project contractors, RIBADE Company LTD, reportedly fired over 200 of its employees due to a shortage of cash, work has come to a standstill on the construction of the National Cathedral.
After spending over GH200 million on the project, the location for the structure, which is a 14.5-acre area adjacent to the Parliament House of Ghana, has come to a standstill. The land is located next to the Parliament House of Ghana.
— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) June 14, 2022