The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference has said government has not held any discussion with them on how they intend to fund and manage the yet-to-be constructed National Cathedral project.
President of the Conference, Most Rev. Philip Naameh, said a broader consultation prior to government’s plan to build a National Cathedral for the Christian community, would have helped to avert or minimize the public anger over the project.
“Normally, we should have been asked to send a representative of the Catholic Conference. The person who is there and seen visibly as representing the Catholic Conference was actually invited by the President. He was not sent by us…We thought that this was not something so fundamental that we could not collaborate with the President and know what he wants to do. How this Cathedral is going to be funded. How it is going to be managed are not issues that have been discussed with us…”
The National Cathedral
President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2017 cut sod for the construction of a National Cathedral to serve as a national non-denominational Christian worship centre for the country.
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Some nine justices of the Court of Appeal as well as other judicial staff occupying bungalows around the site earmarked for the project, have been asked to vacate to make way for the construction of the 5,000-seater capacity facility.
They are to move into temporary residential buildings pending the construction of some 21 new bungalows on the Second Circular Road – Cantonments in Accra.
These will be completed and handed over by January 2020.
‘Build national shrine for traditionalists, mosque for Muslims too’ – Suhuyini
In the wake of the debate on the construction of a cathedral, National Democratic Congress [NDC] Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini asked the Akufo-Addo government to facilitate the construction of a national center of worship for other religious groups in the country.
“If that’s government’s decision and they find it important, I have nothing against it. But you see, this is not a decision by the Christian community. It is a decision of the government to give them a national cathedral. Maybe when they finish, they will give us too a national mosque, and they will give the traditional believers a national shrine too.”
“They do not have to wait for another faith to ask. Just like how they have taken this decision to dash a national cathedral to the Christian community, we expect them to do that. It should not be about another faith asking.”
Source: citinewsroom.com
