The Co-Chair of the Citizens Movement Against Corruption, Edem Senanu, says he has observed a deficit among the country’s clergy following their involvement in the National Cathedral scandal.

According to him, the various members of the Board of Trustees of the famous National Cathedral, who are prominent men of God in the country, have not performed well in terms of accountability.

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) released a report on the Cathedral project on Tuesday after months of investigation.

The report recommends that the Auditor-General conduct a forensic audit of the entire project and potentially prosecute the various members of the Board of Trustees, particularly the clergy, who allegedly mismanaged state funds for personal and organisational gain.

For Mr Senanu, this indicates that “Clearly there was a lack of competency. Given the nature and stature of such persons (the men of God), I would be very hesitant to say that all of them consciously got themselves into this situation... It tells me that we have a major deficit, especially among our clergy,” he said.

He also questioned the procedures considered when appointing the clergymen to the role of Board members, stating that such mistakes should not happen again. “We should never make this mistake again. I don’t even know and understand what the rules are for appointing such boards, where we could just set up a board of all clergy when we are dealing with public funds,” he said.

Speaking on the Joy News AM Show on Tuesday,November 26, Mr Senanu suggested that, moving forward, the appropriate technical steps should be taken in such cases.

“I think that is something that needs to be addressed. Appointing such boards must ensure the necessary technical competencies,” he stressed.

According to the CHRAJ report, members of the Board of Trustees agreed not to take minutes during their meetings while serving on the board. This decision, however, jeopardised accountability and has led to financial losses for the nation.

About a year ago, the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, petitioned CHRAJ to investigate the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral project after alleging mismanagement of state funds and irregularities in the award of contracts.

Some notable men of God who were members of the board include Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah as the Chairperson, Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle as the Vice Chairman, Most Rev. Bishop Justice Ofei Akrofi, Most Rev. T. K. Awotwi Pratt, Rt. Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey, Rev. Dr. Joyce Aryee, and Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng as the General Sectary.

Other members are Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah, Sir David Adjaye, Dr. Frimpong Manso, and Rev. Kingsley Ofosu Ntiamoah.

The National Cathedral project is a promise by the president, Nana Akufo Addo, prior to the 2016 election, to build a place to glorify God if he became president of the country.

However, allegations of mismanagement of funds for the construction were detected, leading to calls for accountability.

Eight-years into his presidency, Nana Addo’s dream of building a place to honour God is in jeopardy, as those he entrusted with the project appear to see it as an opportunity to loot money for personal enrichment.

Meanwhile, the government has already spent GHC339 million on the project, which is still at its foundation level.