The Christian Council of Ghana has called on the state to maintain an interest in the completion of the National Cathedral, arguing that substantial public funds have already been invested in the controversial project.
The Council’s position follows President John Dramani Mahama’s recent assertion that taxpayers’ money should not be used to fund the completion of the National Cathedral.
President Mahama has instead maintained that the Christian community has the capacity to mobilise the necessary resources to complete the project.
However, the Coordinator for Interfaith and Ecumenical Relations at the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Jehoiada Godwin Amuzu, believes Christian leaders can develop a sustainable financing model to revive and complete the project.
Speaking to Accra-based Citi FM, he said the Christian community has the ideas and capacity to mobilise resources locally and internationally for the project.
“I believe that Christians have the capacity to do the project but when we say we have capacity doesn’t mean the money will come from point A or from point B, but the Christian leadership have the capacity to pull ideas together, to develop a financial model, whether locally or internationally, to ensure that the cathedral project bounces back,” he said.
Rev. Amuzu, however, stressed that the state cannot completely dissociate itself from the project because significant public resources have already been committed to its construction.
“You know that a lot of money has been spent already. So whether the Cathedral project continues or not, it does not negate the fact that State money has already been spent on the project,” he said.
He argued that the amount of public resources already invested makes the future of the National Cathedral a matter of national concern.
According to him, irrespective of whether additional funding comes from the State or the Christian community, efforts to ensure the completion of the project should be treated as a national issue.
“And so the continuation should be a national issue, because national resources have been spent already,” he added.
The Christian Council’s position suggests that while the Christian community could take the lead in mobilising funds for the completion of the Cathedral, the State still has a responsibility to maintain an interest in a project in which public funds have already been invested.
