The church should sit with government to figure out best way to complete National Cathedral - Dr Bawumia

The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has broken his silence on the controversial National Cathedral project which millions of cedis have been spent on without significant progress which has drawn criticisms from some members of the clergy, minority and Civil Society Organisations.

Some key Board Members of the National Cathedral have resigned citing lack of transparency in the construction of the project.

However, Dr Bawumia, as part of his tour of the Greater Accra Region today, June 4, met some members of the Clergy where the issue came up and in response, he said there was a need for the church and government to figure out the way forward  to complete the project.

“The question on the National Cathedral is a very important one. I have contributed to this construction personally. I believe it is a very important thing for Ghana but I think that as it stands now, the church has to come together with government to talk about the way forward for the National Cathedral,” he said on Citi FM.

Dr Bawumia continued: “The church should come together and let us know the best way forward. How we can even get private resources to help us to complete the cathedral but I think it is possible. We should not say it is not possible. Let us all sit back together and figure out the way forward on how to complete this cathedral.”

“I think if we all come together, we will figure it out. I want us to come together to figure out the best way forward to generate resources to complete it because we can’t leave it the way it is,” he added.

 Background

The cathedral was a legacy project as part of the 60th independence anniversary of the country and was supposed to provide a missing link in the country’s architecture by providing a formal place for religious activities of the state.

It is also expected to provide an interdenominational space for worship and serve as a fulcrum for unifying the Christian community and a tribute to religious liberty in the country.

Designed as a home of African Christianity, the cathedral has an auditorium space for 5,000, expandable to 15,000 on key national events which would turn the country into an important religious site for religious pilgrimage and tourism.