National Cathedral will have Israel’s Wailing Wall and Garden of Gethsemane – Board

Ghana aims to cash in on the $18billion religious tourism industry when the construction of the national cathedral is complete.

The Secretary of Board of Trustees for the National Cathedral, Prophet Victor Kusi Boateng, indicated that stones from Israel had been flown in to be used as the foundation stone of the construction.

President Nana Akufo-Addo is expected the grace a ceremony on Thursday, which will signal the start of the construction.

The ground-breaking ceremony comes three years after President Nana Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the construction work on Monday, March 6, 2017.

Photo: Akufo-Addo cut the sod in March 2017

Prophet Victor Kusi Boateng indicated that there were plans to replicate the Garden of Gethsemane and the Wailing Wall all cited in Israel.

 

The economic power of the national cathedral

“A lot of people think we are just building a church and people are coming to sing. No, no, no,” he said in a JoyNews interview, monitored by theghanareport.com.

Religious tourism is estimated at a value of US$18 billion, involving 300 million travellers. Prophet Victor Kusi Boateng indicated that the Board wanted to give the National Cathedral, “an economic dimension.”

The project estimated at an initial cost of $100million will be at the center of Ghana’s religious tourism. He said the Board hoped to divert some of the attention of religious tourists from Israel to Ghana.

He said Ghana could become an alternative for travellers with a low budget. “Somebody is in Nigeria. He wants to go to Israel. He doesn’t have 2,000 dollars, but he has 300 dollars,” the clergyman explained how the cathedral could pull in visitors.

 

The garden of Gethsemane and the Wailing Wall

Prophet Kusi Boateng hyped the 5000-seater national cathedral as a construction project that would demonstrate the ‘awesomeness’ of God.

“Every fruit and vegetable in the Bible, every single one of them will be in our garden,” he revealed of the Board’s commitment to recreating the Garden of Gethsemane environment where Jesus prayed until his tears turned blood ahead of his crucifixion.

The fruits and vegetables from this replicated garden would also be used to cook food which would be sold at the restaurant to be built in the National Cathedral, he said.

Photo: Gethsemane garden is about 1,200 square metres located at the foot of Mount Olives.

The garden of Gethsemane is full of olive trees, some as old as 900 years.

The Western Wall, also called the Wailing Wall, is  located in the Old City of Jerusalem and is the only standing remains of the second temple of Jerusalem, which was destroyed by the Romans.

Photo: The Wailing Wall is 60 feet long and about 60 feet high.

 

God’s work requires the best

He said the grand plans of the Board of Trustees required the hiring of the best professionals in construction and architecture.

This is why the Board and the government have hired one of the world’s best architect, David Adjaye, to draw up building plans, the Board Secretary said.

There would be other experts and professionals from Israel who would be coming in to help with construction plans, he indicated.

“We are not just bringing somebody from Goaso….We are not going to bring just ordinary people to build it for us” he said.

The donation of land by the state, the President indicated, was to give the project the “required national significance”.

Several buildings, including the residence of Supreme Court justices, have been pulled down on the prime lands at Ridge in Accra.

The Mali Embassy which used to sit on the land has been relocated as well as the passport office.

‘Only two buildings are left’, he said and added that they would be demolished by March ending. “Every single building sitting on this plot of land will be gone,” the reverend minister said.

Photo: Site map for the planned construction of a National Cathedral
 has revealed the area to be demolished to make way for the heritage project.

He said the failure of persons to stop the construction should be enough signal that God was involved in the building of the National Cathedral.

So far, the Supreme Court has dismissed three suits against the controversial construction plans.

He described opposition to the construction as similar to Sanballat and Tobiah, who opposed Nehemiah when he resolved to build the Temple of Jerusalem.

“But this cathedral will surely be built” he said.

The board, chaired by Most Reverend Samuel Asante Antwi, has been charged with “agreeing on the design, supervising the construction and raising the money for the project” and “in completing the task, the Board of Trustees would also be responsible for managing the cathedral”.

The Chairman is assisted by Archbishop Charles Palmer Buckle with Prophet Victor Kusi Boateng serving as Secretary.

Other members of the Board include, Apostle Opoku Onyinah, Rev. Joyce Aryee, Professor Cephas Amenyo, Rt. Rev. Offei Akrofi, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, Rev. Eastwood Anaba, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, Pastor Mensa Otabil, Rev Dr. Frimpong Manso and former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Prof. Emmanuel Martey.