The Christian Council of Ghana has told President John Dramani Mahama the State cannot wash its hands off the National Cathedral.
According to the Christian Council, the State must maintain an interest in the completion of the National Cathedral, as significant public funds have already been committed to the project.
Speaking to Citi News, Coordinator for Interfaith and Ecumenical Relations at the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Jehoiada Godwin Amuzu, stated, “I believe that Christians have the capacity to do the project, but when we say we have capacity doesn’t mean the money will come from point A or from point B, but the Christian leadership have the capacity to pull ideas together, to develop a financial model, whether locally or internationally, to ensure that the cathedral project bounces back”.
“You know that a lot of money has been spent already. So whether the Cathedral project continues or not, it does not negate the fact that State money has already been spent on the project,” he said.
“And so the continuation should be a national issue, because national resources have been spent already,” Rev. Amuzu added.
The Christian Council’s position follows President John Dramani Mahama’s recent comments that the National Cathedral should not be funded with taxpayers’ money.
Mahama argued that taxpayers’ money should not be used to fund the construction of a National Cathedral, disclosing that if Christians across the country contributed GH¢1,000 each towards the project, they could raise sufficient resources to construct the facility.
Speaking at a citizens’ engagement during his tour of the Upper West Region, President Mahama stated, “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_ Hon. Alan Kyeremanten spotted at the funeral of Mrs Alice Serwaa Manu #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ Businessman Ibrahim Mahama arrives at the funeral of the late Mrs. Alice Serwaa Manu to pay his respects. #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
