National Cathedral Supervisor Took $6m Although Block Hasn’t Been Laid – Bright Simons

Honorary Vice President of IMANI-Africa, Bright Simons, has alleged that the architect supervising the construction of the National Cathedral has been paid $ 6 million even though no substantive work has been done on the project.

Bright Simons in a Twitter post showed the aerial view of the National Cathedral and asked why the supervising architect took $6 million for a project that is at its stage of construction.

He said the National Cathedral is beset with project management challenges.

He wrote: “Aerial view of Ghana’s National Cathedral. Please, where in the world, much less in the developing world, can a supervising architect take $6 million for a project that is at this stage of construction? A project beset with project management challenges?”

Meanwhile, work on the National Cathedral has come to a halt months after the project contractors RIBADE Company LTD, allegedly sacked over 200 of its workers over a lack of funds.

The site for the edifice came to a halt after the government spent about GH¢200 million on the project but still at the foundation level.

A letter dated March 14, 2022, signed by the project manager, Grant Ramsay, making rounds on social media, asked all the workers to return every property in their possession to the Human Resource office.

It stated that it was only complying with portions in the contract which enjoins them to mitigate costs since they were not receiving funds for the project.

Part of the letter reads “Due to the lack of payment from the National Cathedral of Ghana which has resulted in the project being suspended, RIBADE COMPANY LTD is required under the contract to mitigate costs.”

“In compliance with such an obligation under the contract, RIBADE COMPANY LTD has no option but to issue this letter of notice terminating the agreement between RIBADE COMPANY LTD and you as per the provisions of your employment agreement.

“This notice of termination takes effect on the 14th of March 2022 you are therefore requested to hand in all properties (i.e safety equipment, etc) belonging to the company in your possession to the HR office by close of work of the same day,” it added.