« The National Cathedral will not only serve as our collective thanksgiving to the almighty for the blessings he [God] has bestowed on our nation and for sparing us the ravages of civil war that have bedeviled the histories of virtually all our neighbours and the outbreak of deadly mass epidemics but also as a rallying point for the entire Christian community of Ghana, which represents seventy-plus percent of the population, » President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.
He made this known at the centenary celebration of the Ga Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at the Black Star Square on Sunday, December 18, 2022.
The cathedral has raised concerns among some Ghanaians especially the Minority in Parliament.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo accompanied by senior members of the Clergy, laid the foundation stone for the Cathedral on March 5, 2020, to signal the start of construction.
The cathedral will house a series of impressive chapels, a baptistery, a 5000-seat two-level auditorium, a grand central hall, a music school, a choir rehearsal, an art gallery, a shop, and multi-use spaces.
It will also be home to Africa’s first Bible Museum and Documentation Centre, dedicated to Christianity and nation-building in Ghana.
Earlier, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for the North Tongu constituency, accused Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta of breaching laws by withdrawing funds from the Consolidated Fund for the construction of the national cathedral.
He indicated that Ofori-Atta engaged in the act without the required parliamentary approval.
The Finance Minister was accused of « unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in blatant contravention of Article 78 of the 1992 Constitution, supposedly for the construction of the President’s Cathedral, » thus demanding his removal from office.
But Ofori-Atta has insisted that he breached no law in releasing funds for the national cathedral project.
Appearing before an eight-member ad-hoc committee tasked to probe a censure motion against him, he said « I say with both humility and confidence that I have not breached the Constitution in making payments to support the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana. »
He also denied claims by the proponents of the motion that he made an unconstitutional withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund to fund the project.
In an earlier statement, Ofori-Atta announced that GH¢339m has been spent so far on the cathedral project.
Pulse
