The Trade, Industry and Tourism committee of parliament has rejected the GH¢80 million budget allocated for the construction of the National Cathedral.
The minority side of the committee voted against the budget in an 11:10 majority decision.
A member of the committee, Mr Yussif Sulemana said: “I can tell you on authority that at the end of the day, we had to vote and after the vote, the minority carried the day. We have voted against it and we are saying that this is not the time for us to be spending that huge sum of money on building a cathedral”.
READ ALSO: All payments for National Cathedral lawful – Ofori-Atta
On the part of the Ranking Member on the Trades and Industry Committee, Armah Kofi Buah said the Tourism Ministry couldn't give the MPs clear answers to the questions the committee asked.
Per the document the National Cathedral Secretariat submitted on the GH¢225 million, there is an unaccounted figure of GH¢114 million, he said.
"We are going to approve the Ministry of Tourism Budget, but we on the Minority will not approve the GH¢80 million, because we are not satisfied with how the GH¢339 million has been expended. We are not clearly convinced how the GH¢80 million will be spent," Armah Buah explained.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has said the National Cathedral is to thank God for the peace Ghana is enjoying in Africa.
He said the National Cathedral will not only serve as our collective thanksgiving to the almighty for the blessings he [God] has bestowed on Ghana and for sparing us the ravages of civil war that have bedeviled the histories of virtually all our neighbours and the outbreak of deadly mass epidemics but also as a rallying point for the entire Christian community of Ghana.
A section of the public has questioned the allocation given the economic crisis the country finds itself in.
OccupyGhana, and other pressure groups alike, have recommended that the government suspends all public expenditures on the cathedral considering that the country is going through an economic crisis.