National Cathedral: Gov’t deception is worrying-Ricketts-Hagan
Member of Parliament for Cape Coast South, George Ricketts-Hagan, has waded into conversations surrounding the construction of the national cathedral.
The MP admitted there was nothing wrong with building a cathedral but expressed worry over the fact that the project was disguised as private but was now being sponsored by the state.
“As I said, there is nothing wrong with that. The wrong is the deception, the wrong is for the president to tell us that he is building something which is supposed to be his personal pledge which then becomes private and will be funded by the private sector by going around the world to raise funds and then it happens that it is the state which is gradually and progressively funding this structure. That is where the problem is,” he argued.
“I can choose that if I win the next elections in Cape Coast I will build a cathedral to honour God. That is my personal pledge. I am not building the cathedral for the people of Cape Coast, eventually, all these churches or cathedrals built by Kings and Queens were built as their own personal staff. In the end, it became a treasure for the country,” he explained.
According to him, the project must be subjected to Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) laws since it is being sponsored by public funds.
“It should be subjected to the laws of the Public-Private-Partnership. We have laws on PPP, so we have to go to the beginning of this project and subject it to PPP laws, for this project to come to parliament,” he told TV3.
The national cathedral is expected to be the rallying point for the Christian community to convene to worship, pray and promote deep national conversations on the role of faith in building Ghana.
The magnificent cathedral proposed by the government in March 2017 is expected to cash in on the religious tourism industry valued at US$ 18 billion.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo unveiled the design for the cathedral in March 2018.
At the time, he said the construction was in fulfilment of a promise he made to God in the run-up to the December 2016 elections.
The project, which renowned architect David Adjaye designed, was widely criticized and condemned by a number of Ghanaians who considered it a misplaced priority.
The condemnation deepened when the government demolished the residence of some Supreme Court judges in Accra to pave the way for the construction.
On 5 March 2020, President Akufo-Addo laid the foundation stone for the commencement of the construction.
The President assured that the cathedral would not just be another national monument adorning the skyline of Accra but a place of worship.
The project is estimated at an initial cost of $100 million.