Nat’l Cathedral: Sir Adjaye was paid additional money for Bible Museum, Biblical Gardens – MP alleges

12.5% of total cost of National Cathedral project was paid to Sir Adjaye - Ablakwa alleges

Ablakwa leaks documents that show alleged payment to Sir Adjaye for work on National Cathedral

National Cathedral architecture was sole-sourced to Sir Adjaye for $22m - Simons alleges

North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has alleged that the architect for the National Cathedral was paid an additional amount of money for the design he worked on for the Bible Museum and Biblical Gardens as part of the project.

According to Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Sir David Adjaye was given 12.5% for the architecture of the National Cathedral and an additional amount which he failed to mention.

In a tweet shared on June 20, 2022, Ablakwa added that the extra amount of money given to Sir Adjaye was part of the US$25million seed money released by the government.

“In addition to David Adjaye’s 12.5% charge for his original design which amounted to US$21.37million (after a trade discount), he separately charged Ghana for the later “design of the integration of a Bible Museum & Biblical Gardens” which was paid out of US$25million seed money,” portions of the tweet shared by the MP read.

The MP shared documents that showed the alleged payments.

One of the documents reads: “The total budget for the assignment is USD 23,750,000.00 payable in Ghana Cedi equivalent at the prevailing Bank of Ghana forex rate at the time of payment. The fee accounts for 12.5% of the estimated total construction cost of USD 190,000,000.00."

“This first tranche of Seed Money was used for the mobilization of the contractors to the site, site excavation builders works, equipment and materials, the design of the integration of a Bible Museum and Biblical Gardens to the project, and operational issues related to the domestic and international fundraising activities of the National Cathedral. The second tranche of Seed Money of GH₵ 25m cedis was released in May 2022 to pay the contractors for work described in section IV,” another document which allegedly proves the second payment read.

Meanwhile, Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has also alleged that the architecture work for the National Cathedral project was sole-sourced to Sir David Adjaye and Associates Limited at $22 million.

The $22 million agreement, Simons said, is 10 percent of the total cost to be incurred for the National Cathedral project, which is a breach of Ghana’s procurement laws on architecture practice.

View the tweet shared by the MP below:

In addition to David Adjaye’s 12.5% charge for his original design which amounted to US$21.37million (after a trade discount), he separately charged Ghana for the later “design of the integration of a Bible Museum & Biblical Gardens” which was paid out of US$25million seed money. pic.twitter.com/U5o6LORvLY

— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) June 20, 2022