Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, has responded to Prof Opoku Onyinah, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana, regarding his remarks regarding Ablakwa’s recent allegations of corruption related to the project.
In his earlier statement, Apostle Prof Opoku Onyinah emphasized that there is no validity to the claims that the project is involved in corrupt activities.
He further mentioned that it is precisely due to the absence of such corruption allegations that many members of the clergy continue to support the project.
“The things people are saying are not the truth. Because we the trustees have not seen any corruption going on with the project… we have now contracted a renowned auditing firm, Deloitte, to look into our books, so we are not afraid of anything.
“But what we are urging is that we have laws in this country, and if something is not going well, you have to apply the laws. So that if someone has truly embezzled monies meant for the project, the person will be arrested and prosecuted.
“If something is truly going on, you don’t just publish them just to become popular. These issues should not be used for a popularity contest, channel them through legal means,” he said in Twi when asked about Ablakwa’s allegations.
However, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, has strongly countered the respected clergyman’s stance by highlighting that God is not impartial.
Ablakwa expressed his views through a series of tweets, asserting that his allegations concerning the National Cathedral are not baseless but have been widely reported across various platforms since the beginning of the year.
“May I respectfully remind Apostle Opoku Onyinah that the egregious discoveries I have made about the sleazy ‘National’ Cathedral project have not merely been published on social media. It is public knowledge that in January this year, I presented to CHRAJ a conflict of interest petition regarding the conduct of Apostle Onyinah’s colleague board member, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi/Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng.
“It has equally been widely reported that I have successfully filed a motion in Parliament demanding a full scale public parliamentary inquiry into the putrefying cathedral affair — a motion which was duly admitted in March this year by the Right Honourable Speaker, Alban S.K. Bagbin.
“Worthy of additional reminder is the fact that a number of institutions such as the Ghana Revenue Authority, Public Procurement Authority and the Office of the Registrar of Companies have all formally responded to my Right to Information Requests — responses which have all confirmed and vindicated my painstaking findings,” he wrote.
“With the greatest of respect, if my intention was to engage in a popularity contest, I would have applied to host Date Rush or signed up for Big Brother Africa.
“Members of Parliament who in the patriotic pursuit of their constitutional mandate of oversight make great sacrifices, take tremendous risks, refuse to be compromised, and insist on not bowing to Baal as the Bible teaches Christians, should at the very least, be encouraged, and not vilified.
“Thankfully, between truth and falsehood, graft and oversight — God is not neutral. For God and Country. Ghana First,” he ended his series of tweets.
