It is sad that the clergy have not been able to tell President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that the National Cathedral project is needless, a Founding member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe has said.
He expressed concerns that the narrative about the nature of the project, whether private and public, is changing.
“If I tell President Akufo-Addo that if you want to build a cathedral tell he people exactly what the cathedral will be for, let the people know that the cathedral will not come form state coffers , let the people know that the cathedral is going to be built by you.
“That was the initial conversation but unfortunately it is changing. The sad thing is that the clergy are in support of this, the individual loses confidence in its spiritual leader, that is the end of this country so the clergy must be above all, they should be able to tell Akufo-Addo that is is what you told us from the beginning, go by it, but they haven’t,” he told TV3’s Johnnie Hughes in interview.
The National Cathedral Secretariat has clarified that the construction is a public project, not private.
Bringing finality to the debate as to whether the project is state or privately owned, the Secretariat in a statement on Friday, June 17 said “In his first official announcement on the project on March 6, 2017, the President underscored the nature of the project as a national cathedral for interdenominational worship services for the nation.
“Subsequent elaborations led to three main reasons as the rationale for the project, namely i) gesture of thanksgiving ii) symbol of the Christian presence and contributions to the nation, and iii) a personal pledge to God. Of these three reasons, the personal pledge came to be associated with the Cathedral as a “private” project that needed to be developed without state support.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the National Cathedral is a National Monument, and thus a public, not private, project. Legally, the National Cathedral of Ghana is a state-owned company limited by guarantee and was incorporated under the Companies Act, 1963 (Act 179) on July 18, 2019.
“We hope this brings to a closure the seemingly vexatious issue of whether the National Cathedral is a private or public initiative. The National Cathedral is a National Monument and Asset, and not a Private project. It is however being developed in partnership between the state and the church,” a statement by the Secretariat on Friday, June 17 said.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana