A former Deputy Managing Director of the National Investment Bank (NIB), Alfred Thompson has said God is in favour of the national cathedral being built by the Akufo-Addo government.
In his view, God listened to the pledge of Mr Akufo-Addo to build a cathedral to thank him if he helped him to be president.
If the almighty did not accept that prayer, he said, Mr Akufo-Addo would not have won to be President in the first place.
“God has approved what [President Akufo-Addo] said. If God didn’t want the cathedral he wouldn’t have made Akufo-Addo the president,” he stated on the New Day show with Berla Mundi on TV3 Wednesday, June 22.
For his part, the National Youth Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) George Opare Addo questioned the rationale to use public funds to build the cathedral.
In his view, it was a personal decision by the President to undertake such a project hence, should not be financed by the taxpayer.
Meanwhile, 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.”
Source: 3news.com|Ghana