Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has reiterated his assertion that certain individuals have been paid huge sums of monies on the National Cathedral project for little to no work done.
According to him, Britain-based Ghanaian architect Sir David Frank Adjaye, CEO of the Nehemiah Group Cary Summers, and Reverend Victor Kusi-Boateng are among the persons who have purportedly received significant sums of money from the project’s funds for doing little to no work.
He says Sir Adjaye is not deserving of the $19.6 million he received for “just designing” the edifice of which he charged an extra fee after attaching a restaurant he omitted from the initial plan.
“When you look at the people who have taken money and done little look at David Adjayi, he alone received $19.6 million, when you look at the breakdown, after he designed the structure he left out a restaurant area.
“So he was asked to add a restaurant and for just designing the restaurant he charged an amount of $5.7 million for just the design,” he made these allegations while speaking to Nana Yaa Brefo and JB on Onua FM Thursday, March 07, 2024.
Another name disclosed was that of the CEO of Nehemiah Group, Cary Summers, described as a consultant for the National Cathedral project, who is said to have received $6 million of taxpayers’ money. Despite promises to leverage his expertise to raise international funds for the project, Mr Ablakwa claims Summers has not delivered on this front.
Further scrutiny by Ablakwa allegedly revealed that Summers, portrayed as the CEO of Nehemiah Group in America, is instead a coffee brewer in a “ramshackle” warehouse.
“Cary Summers who is a supposed Consultant for the National Cathedral project has taxpayers money of $6 million. They said he was a consultant who would help us with contacts and expertise that would help us raise funds internationally for the project.
“Up to now Cary Summers has not introduced us to anyone capable of helping us finance the project but he has in his possession $6 million belonging to taxpayers and Ghanaians. I went to America to find out he wasn’t the CEO of Nehemiah Group in America.
“I discovered he’s merely a coffee brewer in a ramshackle warehouse. He has taken taxpayers’ money to America,” he disclosed.
Additionally, Rev. Kusi Boateng, according to Ablakwa, received GH₵ 2.6 million from the project’s funds under the guise of contractor mobilization. However, his investigations revealed that Kusi Boateng is not a contractor but rather a Director of JNS Talents Limited under the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
The politician asserts the man of God attempted to obscure his identity to avoid being found out of conflicts of interest for paying his own company GH¢2.6 million for no work done, using a secondary identity.
Despite legal actions taken by Boateng against Ablakwa’s claims, The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) reportedly validated the MP’s findings, dismissing the claims of the member of the Board of Directors of the project.
“This led me to investigate the matter and I discovered that his company JNS Talents Limited he is there as a director with a different name, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
“It was easy for him to create the impression that it wasn’t him and there was no conflict of interest. Until I unravelled what was going on that he was the same person with a different identity for that name, different mother, different date of birth, different diplomatic passport and all of that.
“He took me to court for my findings and the Human Rights courts has also established that the findings from my investigation is accurate and Rev. Kusi [Boateng] has no claim in law and his claims were dismissed, our GH¢2.6 million is with him,” the legislator said.
Meanwhile, Rev. Kusi Boateng says the allegations are false.
Addressing concerns about alleged mismanagement of funds, Reverend Boateng refuted claims of trustee payments, and diverted funds stating firmly that no evidence supporting such allegations has been presented to the public.
He described the GH₵2.6 million the North Tongu MP says he has received from the project’s funds under the guise of contractor mobilization as “lies, lies, blatant lies”.
”There is no single theft that has occurred within the coffers of the National Cathedral, the great men behind it will not sit back and watch it happen.”
By Lois Dogbe|Onua FM
