The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has released Episode 3 of his ‘National Cathedral Scandals – American Edition’.
From his recent trip to the United States of America, the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of Ghana’s Parliament, has released evidence of scandals he describes as “bombshells” about the National Cathedral project.
On each occasion, the Secretariat has responded and refuted the allegations.
On Saturday, May 6, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP wrote that his latest episode “reveals deeply distressing findings from two US states of Oklahoma and Illinois”.
“Hitherto, Ghanaians and the Parliament of Ghana had only been informed either through official documentation, the ‘National’ Cathedral of Ghana website and press releases from the Cathedral Secretariat about its Washington, D.C. office, even though that address: 1090 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20005, has now turned out to be fictitious.”
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He revealed that in Oklahoma, as part of renewal of registration of the fund raising documents, Dr Vernon Darko, Eric Okyere Darko and Dr Paul Opoku-Mensah ,were named as directors in defiance to an earlier advice from the Attorney General.
He indicated that, Dr Darko was even registered as President in Illinois.
“How did Dr Vernon Darko become President of a national project abroad? Who appointed him to that position? How does he derive his authority? How is he accountable to Ghanaians? Why is Parliament not aware of his exalted status?
“If the ‘National’ Cathedral of Ghana and the Bible Museum Foundation, Inc. is truly a national project belonging to Ghanaians, why are Ghana’s two diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C. and New York, playing absolutely no role? Why should Dr Vernon Darko and his collaborators have all the authority over a so-called national project abroad, while our Ambassador and Permanent Representative have absolutely no authority and no locus?”
Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa, accused the trio of declaring $63,978, as raised funds.
“This amount has never been disclosed to Ghanaians neither is it contained in any of the reports to Parliament.
“Where is this money and what was it used for? When will Ghanaians know the total amount of funds raised across the US and how credible will that figure be considering the sordid levels of opacity, structural illegalities and abysmal corporate governance?”
Ahead of the latest revelations, the Executive Director of the National Cathedral of Ghana (NCG), Dr Paul Opoku-Mensah, had replied Ablakwa, following his second publication on the scandals surrounding the stalled project from his recent trip to the US.
The lawmaker on Thursday, May 4, following the publication of his five “bombshells”, released another scandal, which indicts the National Cathedral Secretariat for “identity theft” in the registration of the National Cathedral and the Bible Museum Foundation in the US.
“Painstaking and unimpeachable investigations shockingly reveal that the March 2021 incorporation of the National Cathedral of Ghana and Bible Museum Foundation, Inc in Washington, D.C. was criminally executed through IDENTITY THEFT,” Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa wrote on Thursday.
He further disclosed: “Further irrefutable forensic investigations reveal that the Social Security Number of: 863-85-9197 used to generate the Cathedral’s Employer ID Number belongs to one Jose Salgado. (See evidence attached).
“Deeper investigations and impregnable gold-standard validation which include a report from police database has established that 31-year-old Jose Salgado who has many aliases including Jose Luis Delapaz, Jose Isabel Salgado, Jose Luis Paz and Jose L De was born in March 1983 and died on September 17, 2014. (See extract attached). It has therefore emerged beyond any scintilla of doubt that the Social Security Number of a deceased young male Hispanic who died 9 years ago was fraudulently used to incorporate Ghana’s national cathedral in Washington, D.C.”
But the Executive Director, in his response later on Thursday, described as “embarrassing” the lack of knowledge of US systems displayed by the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee in Ghana’s Parliament.
“Titled ‘Episode 2 of National Cathedral Scandals – America Edition’, it is prefaced, once again, by such lack of knowledge of the US system.
“As a Ghanaian,I find it extremely embarrassing to see these expressed by the Ranking Member of Foreign Affairs in the country’s Parliament.
“The main body of Episode 2, however, is the malicious accusation that the National Cathedral is guilty of the serious crime of ‘identity theft’ in the registration of the National Cathedral Foundation in the USA.”
Dr Opoku-Mensah, explained that in arriving at that conclusion the MP distorted information.
“But, this distortion is neither the result of an accident, nor ignorance. It reflects the modus operandi of the MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. All his so-called ‘National Cathedral scandals’ are distortions of information on the project.”
The National Cathedral, insists that the project has been implemented with integrity without criminality and just like the accusations in the McCarthy era in the US, the scope and benefits of the project after its completion will justify the investment into it.
