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Sunday, July 20, 2025

Godfred Dame lied to the Supreme Court on usage of state funds – Kofi Bentil

A photo collage of IMANI Veep Kofi Bentil (left) and former Attorney General Godfred Dame A photo collage of IMANI Veep Kofi Bentil (left) and former Attorney General Godfred Dame

Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has accused former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Dame, of misleading the Supreme Court of Ghana on the use of state funds for the National Cathedral project.

According to Kofi Bentil, Mr. Dame peddled falsehoods when he told the apex court that state funds would not be used for the cathedral project, except for what he termed as “seed money”, despite knowing that more public funds were being spent.

Bentil further criticised both Dame and the Supreme Court, which dismissed a case brought by James Kwabena Bomfeh, former Youth Organiser of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), challenging the use of public funds for the cathedral.

“In my view, the AG lied… I don’t know how to put this, but in short, this is one of the reasons why the present Chief Justice is facing what she’s facing. Some of us were disappointed that in the face of things, it seemed there were preconceived decisions,” he said.

He continued, “My own brother, the AG, lied because he had those facts and went and controverted what Bomfeh said. And the judges, instead of taking judicial notice, looking at the facts in front of them, lined up behind the government in the face of things that we could all see.”

Bentil added, “The belief in the government was not founded. There was evidence in front of them, and it could be checked.”

His remarks follow revelations from an audit report by Deloitte, which confirmed that state funds were indeed used for the cathedral project, contrary to assurances previously given by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led government.

Minister of State in charge of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, disclosed details of the report during a press briefing on July 18, 2025.

He stated that financial irregularities linked to the controversial National Cathedral project amounted to $97 million.

“National Cathedral project amounts to $58 million so far, and there is an additional outstanding $39 million payment due the contractor. This will bring the total cost incurred for the hole at the site of the project to $97 million,” Kwakye Ofosu said.

BAI/MA

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