Elvis Darko, the Editor of the Newscenta Newspaper, has questioned the rationale for constructing the National Cathedral following the renewed debates surrounding the project.
According to Elvis Darko, the religious tourism logic alone does not provide a meaningful basis for the construction of the National Cathedral.
He challenged the claims that the National Cathedral could make Ghana become a major international destination for religious tourism, arguing that Ghana lacks historical artefacts or direct religious connections that could make the facility a significant global attraction.
Elvis Darko also noted that the National Cathedral was conceived primarily as a religious facility, highlighting that Ghana already has numerous large and well-equipped churches.
Speaking on the Breakfast Daily programme on Channel One TV on Monday, September 14, Darko stated, “Across Ghana, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has so many chapels. Action Chapel, Church of Pentecost—when you’re talking about real estate in terms of church buildings, I think the Church of Pentecost leads in this country. Almost everywhere you go, you see them having big, big facilities”.
“This is not where Jesus was born. The original scrolls of the Bible, you can’t find them to come and put in your museum here. So, there’s nothing meaningful about religious tourism if that is the purpose of building the cathedral,” he added.
His comment follows President John Dramani Mahama has finally stated his position on the continuation of the National Cathedral project he inherited from the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo administration.
According to President Mahama, even though he had made a commitment to continue projects left behind by the previous administration, the National Cathedral project was different.
Mahama explained that his commitment was to continue all national projects the previous government left behind, but the National Cathedral project was a personal pledge to God made by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and not a national project.
Speaking during his Resetting Ghana Tour of the Upper West Region on Saturday, September 12, President Mahama stated, “I made a promise that every policy I inherited, I would continue it as long as it’s in the interest of the people. The National Cathedral… was not a national policy. It was a personal pledge by the former President”.
“I made a promise that every policy and every project that I inherit, I will continue it as long as it’s in the interest of the people, and I have largely done that. Almost all the projects and policies we inherited, we have continued.
“The only one is the National Cathedral, but that was not a national policy. It was a personal pledge by the former President. It was a personal pledge by the former President to God. So that one, it wasn’t national policy,” he added.
Mahama further added, “I am a Christian myself. I have nothing against having a national cathedral”.
“My second problem was that we shouldn’t use taxpayers’ money. I mean, how many Christians are in this country? If we all pay 1,000 cedis each, we should be able to construct a national cathedral,” he added.
“My principle has always been that the location has been a problem,” he said.
“So normally during ceremonies, you have the stadium not far, and that’s the way we used to go to Black Star Square. So if you go and put this major thing there again, it will constrict that whole area,” he said.
“My problem was also that the amount of destruction we had to cause to clear the area; broke 10 judges’ residences.
“We broke the Malian Ambassador’s residence. Up to now, we’ve not replaced it. And several other properties, the old passport office, all of them were demolished to make way for a national cathedral,” he said.
He further revealed that the forensic audit into the National Cathedral project had been completed and was currently with the Attorney General, disclosing that a copy would be made available to the Christian Council to enable it to examine how almost $90 million was spent on the project.
“The forensic audit is ready; it’s with the Attorney General, and I’ll make a copy of it available to the Christian Council so that they can look at the processes of what went into the expenditure of the 90 million dollars, so that if there’s any corrective action, we can take it together,” he said.
@ghnow_ The national launch of the Presidential Initiative on Maternal Health Emergency Response, aimed at improving emergency care and reducing maternal deaths across Ghana. #GHnow #fyp ♬ original sound – Fanfairwrld
@ghnow_ Representatives of the Ga Mantse address guests at the national launch of the Presidential Initiative on Maternal Health Emergency Response. #GHnow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
