National Cathedral: I’m not the first person to use funds from Contingency Vote – Ofori-Atta
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta defended the way he took money out of the consolidated fund to pay for the national cathedral project.
He said that former President John Mahama’s government used the same method to approve money for Ghana to go to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
When Mr. Ofori-Atta testified before the ad hoc parliamentary committee that looked into seven allegations against him in connection with a censure motion filed by the minority caucus to get rid of him, he said, “Hon. Co-chairs, in preparing the annual budgets, the practice is that provision is made for indicative expenditures that have not been fully costed at the time of the budget presentation.”
“Provisions are made in the Contingency Vote to cover such costs,” he said, giving the example of Ghana’s participation in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, for which there was no specific budget in the 2014 budget. In March 2014, President John Mahama’s cabinet approved about $9.622 million for that tournament. Part of that money was flown to Brazil in a private jet for the players.
“Ghana’s participation in Qatar is a more recent example. The Black Stars made it to the 2022 FIFA World Cup long after parliament approved the 2022 budget on November 16, 2021. No specific amount was budgeted for it, but thanks to the Contingency Vote, we were able to give the team the money it needed to enter the competition in a legal way,” he said.
He said, “Expenditures for the National Cathedral were made from the Contingency Vote under the ‘Other Government Obligations’ vote, as they had been in the past (I have copies of several payments from the Contingency Vote dating back to 2015 to show you).”
Mr. Ofori-Atta said, “As finance minister, I am fully aware of the approval procedures for using the Contingency Fund, and I have not broken any of its rules.” He also said, “The national cathedral is 100% owned by the state and is not the president’s cathedral, as the proponents have said.”
“In fact, the Attorney General told the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board on January 6, 2022, that the national cathedral is a state-owned company limited by guarantee,” he said.
READ ALSO: Ghana’s total debt stock currently stands at GH¢450 billion in 2022 – Ofori-Atta
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