Senior Vice President of IMANI Africa and lawyer, Kofi Bentil, has called on the government to move beyond public commentary and initiate prosecutions against individuals involved in the mismanagement of the money meant for the National Cathedral project.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, July 19, Mr Bentil expressed deep concern over the findings of the recent audit report into the controversial project. He described the revelations as alarming and unacceptable, especially given Ghana’s pressing development needs.
“It is extremely significant and extremely material for a poor country which cannot supply water to even its capital,” he said.
“More than 50% of places in Accra don’t have running water 24/7. So for a country like this to have leaders who elect to use our money this way is extremely irresponsible.”
He noted that many of the issues raised in the report were not new, and that civil society actors had previously warned of mismanagement.
“A lot of things that are being said in this report are not new,” he explained. “When you see the thing before then nobody can say you are surprised. We said this was not proper, it shouldn’t be done, it will be a waste, there will be probes after. We said all these things and they have come to confirm all of those things now.”
He then issued a call to action. “Honestly, I agree with the people who say, please stop the charade, go ahead and prosecute them,” Bentil stressed. “Go ahead and call people to book. They spent almost $100million, and what we have left is that hole. Go ahead, find the people who spent the money, let them come and confirm it.”
While urging accountability, Mr Bentil cautioned against politically motivated prosecutions. “I think there is a risk here, the risk is over-prosecution. I think this government is trying to make a huge noise and actually denigrate people,” he said.
He emphasised that true accountability requires proper legal procedures. “The charade is easy. The media stuff, publications here and there, sensational news who did this and who didn’t do this the difficult work is going down, determining where crimes were committed, determining who misappropriated funds,” he explained.
It is not everything that is a crime. The fundamental point is that, when somebody spends money, the person should come and prove why they spent that money. And if they make a bad choice, there is a causing financial loss to the state,” he added.
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