GH₵ 9.2 million as cost of relocating Passport Office: Find better use for that money–Nobles Forum tells Gov’t

The West Africa Nobles Forum has asked the government to find better use for GH₵ 9.2 million it intends to use in relocating the Passport Office.

It said the decision smacked of wastefulness in the face of socio-economic challenges facing the country.

The President-General of the Forum, Dr Paul Fynn, told TheGhanaReport.com that although it was not against the construction of a national cathedral, the site for its location was wrong.

Already, the government has demolished houses of judges located on the proposed site for the construction of the 5000-seater National Cathedral at Ridge in Accra.

“We have children learning under trees, children walking through rivers to attend school and roads that need fixing, yet this government decides to waste money when it could easily acquire virgin lands outside the choked Accra to build the cathedral.

Not judicious

“We’ve demolished recently built houses for judges, we are relocating the Passport Office for such an astronomical amount. The government must know that merely telling us it is not building the Cathedral while taking these big decisions on public lands and investments is not a judicious use of state funds,” he said in reaction to the government’s decision.

Alarm

Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, raised the alarm about the amount to the media wondering why the government will want to spend GH¢9.2 million for the relocation of the passport office at Ridge to pave way for the construction of the interdenominational national cathedral.

The government is making a case for the decision saying the planned relocation and the building of the cathedral coincidentally come at a time when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is already moving to acquire an ultra-modern facility to roll out its chip-embedded passport application in 2020.

Speaking on Citi Fm’s Eyewitness News, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Charles Owiredu said both the relocation and the amount involved are in order.

“A decision has been made to construct a national cathedral and as a result of that, some government institutions will have to be moved. Prior to this, the government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also looking for an opportunity to be expanding some of the facilities at the Passport Office. Next year, we will be rolling a chip-embedded passport.

“It will require additional security measures. So when this matter came, we said why don’t we take advantage of this, and really get a place, get more rooms and enhance security.

With the figure mentioned, it is a planned budget and we are still going through the process, companies are bidding and they are yet to present the technical report which will be sent to the Public Procurement Authority for approval. So as we speak, no contract has been awarded yet,” he said.

But Dr Fynn said the government must set its priorities right.

“What is the fixation with wanting to build the Cathedral in Accra Central? We can send this project to communities outside Accra and turn the place into a tourism hub with parks, restaurants, cinema and so on why do we want to build this in a traffic prone area.

“Here we are having to destroy to build. How judicious is that for protecting the public purse as the President promises in his speeches. This is wrong and must not be condoned,” he said.

He cited the Washington National Cathedral in the United States as an example of a facility that the government could emulate using virgin land even at the University of Ghana lands to achieve.

President Akufo-Addo announced his decision to build the Cathedral in March 2018 and construction work is set to begin next year.

The announcement generated a storm as the people criticized and praised the idea in equal measure.

Conceived as a physical embodiment of unity, harmony and spirituality, the National Cathedral which is on 14.5 acres, on completion in four years, will be the nation’s ceremonial landmark, Ghana’s Mother Church, where all Ghanaians can gather, worship and celebrate in spiritual accord.

Cost

Apart from the judges being and the Passport Office being mowed down, other affected buildings include the Passport Office, the residence of the Malian Ambassador, the offices of ComSys, a communication services provider, and the offices of the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET), an economic research institute, which had also been earmarked for demolition, had, however, not been touched.

A fundraising campaign was launched on December 28, 2018,  for the project at which President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo promised GH¢100,000 towards the project.

The building of the edifice designed by British-Ghanaian architect Sir David Adjaye of Adjaye and Associates is expected to cost $100 million.