Former Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelovo has called on the Auditor General to investigate and surcharge individuals if breaches are found in the use of funds allocated for the National Cathedral project.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Newsnight on Monday, November 25, Mr Domelovo supported a recommendation by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for a forensic audit into whether funds released for the project were appropriately utilized.

The recommendation is based on a report compiled by CHRAJ following a complaint lodged by the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

About a year ago, the MP petitioned CHRAJ over what he described as discrepancies in the construction of the project and at the National Cathedral Secretariat.

Mr Ablakwa also raised concerns about the transfer of GH₵2.6 million from the National Cathedral Secretariat to JNS Talent Centre Limited, one of the firms constructing the edifice.

Mr Domelovo explained that the use of the consolidated fund must comply with Article 178 of the Constitution, requiring parliamentary approval or authorization by law.

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“You cannot use consolidated fund unless it is a charge on appropriation, by supplementary act or an appropriation act. It must be approved by Parliament. Clause 2 says that even if it is not from the consolidated fund, that is any other fund, it must be authorized by the Act which established that fund.

“So we need to see that there is a law permitting the use of audit funds for the cathedral. Was it in an appropriate, a subsidiary that must be established beyond doubt,” he stressed.

Mr Domelovo referenced a Supreme Court ruling in Occupied Ghana vs Attorney General, which clarified that the Auditor General must disallow and surcharge expenditures that violate the law.

He noted that if breaches are found in the fund’s release or procurement processes, both the Ministry of Finance and trustees of the National Cathedral must be held accountable.

He added that public funds, regardless of the recipients, are subject to strict legal scrutiny and accountability.

“So, I think it is in order that the Attorney General goes deep into it, find out where there are any breaches or infractions of the law in the cause of the use of the money, especially the release of the money from the consolidated fund, whether the Minister of Finance breached it, he may have to be held accountable. If he didn't breach it, that the procurement process was breached by the trustees, then, unfortunately, they are men of God, but public funds, they must be held accountable,” he explained.