Monday, 6th June, 2022

Page 6
DAILY ANALYST Monday, 6th June, 2022
Private legal
practitioner, Martin
Kpebu finds it hard
to understand why
government is bent
on establishing the National
Cathedral amidst the current
economic challenges.
A letter, signed by the
Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-
Atta, to the Controller and
Accountant’s General, directed
that GH¢25 million be credited
to Ribade, for part payment of
outstanding claims.
“Authority is hereby granted
to you to release the sum [of]
GH¢25,000,000.00 as additional
seed money to the National
Cathedral Secretariat for the
construction of the National
Cathedral for part payment
of outstanding claims from
RIBADE Limited,” the letter
added.
Speaking on The Big Issue
on Citi TV, Mr. Kpebu said the
cathedral is a misplaced priority.
He believes it is time for
Christian leaders to declare their
position on the matter.
“This Cathedral conversation
‘It’s wrong to invest in
National Cathedral amidst
economic hardship’ – Kpebu
is quite dicey. It is all about
timing, and I do not think this
is the right time to push for
such a project. Indeed, we are all
religious people, I am a Catholic,
and so I know the essence of
the church. But because we
are currently hard-pressed for
money as a nation, I do not think
this should be the focus of the
nation now.”
He believes it is time for
Christian leaders, especially, to
declare their position on the
matter.
“It is even time for the
religious leaders to assess where
they stand on this matter. The
Board of trustees comprises all
the top Christian leaders you
can find in Ghana, and yet see
how the public is resisting the
project. This should be a strong
message to our leaders that the
society is constantly evolving.”
“We could shelve the project
for now and then when things
are better, we could take it up. It
is not as though the country is
short of places of worship,” he
added.
The Minority in Parliament
has already filed three urgent
questions to compel the
Minister for Finance to provide
details on how much the state
has spent on the National
Cathedral Project.
The National Cathedral
project was proposed by the
government in March 2017
as a physical embodiment of
national unity, harmony, and
spirituality.
The $350-million interdenominational
cathedral will
have an auditorium capable of
seating 5,000 people, as well as
chapels, and a baptistery.
It is targeted to be completed
in March 2024.
President Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo has been criticised
for his decision to build the
National Cathedral in the face of
numerous challenges facing the
country.
In his defence, the President
has said the construction is in
fulfilment of a promise he made
to God in the run-up to the 2016
election.
Government to establish
STEM universities in five
new regions
Imani’s Fiscal recklessness index report
was ‘poorly’ done – John Kumah
A
Deputy Minister
for Finance, Dr.
John Kumah has
discredited the latest
Fiscal Recklessness
Index report released by policy
think tank, IMANI Africa.
In the report, which was
jointly authored by IMANI and
Oxfam Ghana, the Ministry
of Finance was said to have
been the state institution
with the highest level of fiscal
recklessness between 2015 and
2020, recording more than GH¢11
billion in losses to the state.
Data from the Fiscal
Recklessness Index 2020
report also ranked financial
irregularities for Ministries,
Departments, and Agencies
within the period.
The Deputy Finance Minister
in a Citi News interview said the
policy think tank only rehashed
the Auditor-General’s report
and failed to indicate instances
where losses had been recovered.
“I have read the Imani
report and I think they did a
poor job. They only rehashed
the report given by the Auditor-
General which was widely
misinterpreted by many people
that government has lost
billions of cedis, which was not
so.”
“When you accumulate
previous irregularities, and you
don’t tell us the following year’s
irregularities that recovered
much of the losses that were
identified in the previous
years, then you will be doublecounting
the losses, which is not
the case. For instance, in 2018
where they said GRA could not
collect about 5 billion worth of
cedis in taxes, the following year,
that is 2019, GRA came out with
a report showing 95% of that
money that was locked in 2018
was recovered and the 5% was
a subject of litigation in court.
About the arrears and advances
to workers guaranteed by their
salaries, all those were recovered
the following year.”
Excerpts of the report
During a presentation at the
launch of the report, a research
consultant with IMANI, Dennis
Asare disclosed among other
things that commercial banks
who collect tax revenue on
behalf of government fail to
lodge the funds based on the
time frame provided by the PFM
Act, which is one of the major
issues that government faced.
“Overall, this is the fiscal
recklessness of the 29 MDAs in
Ghana. The recklessness or the
financial cost of the recklessness
of the Ministries Departments
and Agencies are increasing as
compared to 2010 and 2014,” he
added.
The policy think tank also
observed that the current
public financing system is not
delivering efficiency.
“If you compare 2010 to
2014, the financial cost of
the recklessness of MDAs to
the period 2015 and 2020, you
see that the recklessness has
increased by about 13 times.
So between 2010 and 2014, the
financial cost of irregularity was
about 1.4 billion, but between
2015 and 2020 it is about 13.9
billion, which shows that
the Public Financial System
that we have, to some extent,
is not delivering the level of
efficiency.”
The Ministry of Health was
also ranked as the second most
financially reckless institution
in the country.
The government is
set to establish five
Science Technology
Engineering and
Mathematics STEMbased
universities in the five
newly created regions in the
country.
This move by the
government according to the
Ministry of Education, is in line
with the government’s policy
of expanding and promoting
education of STEM education at
all levels.
The Deputy Minister
of Education, Rev. Ntim
Fordjour, who disclosed this
at the investiture of the Vice
Chancellor of the University of
Environment and Sustainable
Development, Professor
Eric Nyarko-Sampson and
induction of Registrar Mrs.
Mary Abena Agyepong in
Somanya said government has
programmed finances to start
the universities this year.
“I must indicate that the
proposal of the university in
seeking government support
in establishing this university
as STEM education centre is
a laudable initiative in line
with government’s policy in
expanding and promoting
education of Science Technology
Engineering and Mathematics
and ensuring that in all levels
of education strong emphasis
is placed on STEM. It is in
line with this policy that the
government has programmed
finances to establish 5 STEM
universities in 5 newly created
regions starting this year
and has gone on further to
construct 10 STEM high schools
and a STEM academy to take
care of the pre-tertiary level
to create a viable and credible
pipeline to ensure that we are
on track to attain our strategic
objective by 2030 of having a
60/40 science to humanity ratio
as against the current 40/60 in
favour of humanity, to this end
be assured most sincerely that
your proposal will receive rapid
attention.”
“Management of the
University of Environment
and Sustainable Development
who called on the Ministry
of Education to elevate
the university into a STEM
university also pleaded with
the government to assist the
university to establish a basic
school for the children of the
university workers, improve
transport and accommodation
facilities for both workers and
students to improve smooth
teaching and learning.”