The Ghanaian administration has begun talks with the International Monetary Fund for a potential bailout after acknowledging that the country is now experiencing an economic crisis.
Many Ghanaians have questioned the rationale behind some of the government’s spending, including certain public projects like the National Cathedral, as a result of the announcement’s impact.
During his appearance on Citi FM’s Breakfast Daily program on Monday, July 4, 2022, host Bernard Avle questioned why the government chose to allocate public monies to the National Cathedral project at a time when the country is experiencing an economic crisis.
He inquired, “How do you explain the sum we spent on the Cathedral at the time we did?”
The minister avoided answering the question in a seemingly evasive way, stating that he hadn’t yet been briefed on the National Cathedral expenditure-related issues.
“This whole cathedral matter I think has generated a lot of public brouhaha. I have honestly asked for a full brief to understand why we paid what at what point in time. So as I sit before you this morning, I don’t have a full brief to speak to that matter. Our understanding initially is that it was supposed to be put together by the churches and private sector with some seed support from the state. I don’t have a full brief of the details on how that has gone so I am not going to go into that,” the minister said.
According to reports, the government has already contributed GHC 200 million to the building of the National Cathedral.
Among other things, some people have questioned why the state would invest money on the project given the current economic climate.
On Friday, June 1, 2022, the Ghanaian government stated that it has decided to apply for a bailout from the IMF in order to address the country’s present economic problems.
The government has come in for harsh criticism after the announcement because of its earlier stance against a potential bailout.
