In the runup to Election 2020, then President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made a solemn, yet personal pledge, to God that if God helped him to win that election, he would build a Cathedral to honour Him.
He did win the election alright, but the issue of this personal pledge started taking its own twist and turn. Akufo-Addo stated emphatically that public funds would not be committed to the Cathedral project. Arguments went back and forth as to whether or not what was termed a National Cathedral should be privately funded.
Some revered men of God who were nominated to serve on this project made public statements to the effect that public funds would not be a part of funding for the project. It turned out that they were either hoodwinked into a deception or were part of the scheme.
Bungalows housing many Judges of our Superior Courts, some of which were renovated and refurbished at great costs only months prior, were demolished to pave way for the construction of the National Cathedral. Suggestions from well-meaning citizens for a virgin/barren plot be procured elsewhere were ignored.
All of a sudden, a bill was put before Parliament which enabled the government to commit over GH¢200 million of public funds into the Cathedral project. Amid public outcry over this deception some of the clergymen on the Cathedral project stepped down: they would not want to be associated with an opaque and deceitful undertaking.
In the final analysis Akufo-Addo couldn’t fulfill his promise to God before his government was kicked out of office, a political humiliation our nation had never seen before. What is left is a pit that his administration had said cost $58 million. Today, we are being told it cost $97 million and is still rising.
Only a couple of days ago, the NDC administration of John Dramani Mahama issued directives for the dissolution of the Cathedral Board and Secretariat. Within hours the Cathedral Board fired back with a statement steeped in bellicosity and belligerence as if asking for further and better particulars from the government.
Methinks John Mahama and the NDC government must listen and listen well: this Cathedral project is not their making, even if public funds were sunk into it. We are told the project is a company limited by guarantee, which makes it probably a private undertaking with a scintilla of public support.
Since it was a personal promise of Akufo- Addo to his God, this government with its numbers in Parliament should push a bill to revoke government participation in this project. Government should also push another bill to revoke and reverse all public monies sunk into the project. It must also surcharge the Cathedral Board and Secretariat with the cost of the demolished state bungalows.
If Akufo-Addo is still bent on prosecuting this agenda he can look for land elsewhere and get this Board to superintend it.
Also, on my mind, John Mahama and the NDC government, in my candid opinion, have not treated Ghana’s Republic Day with the respect it deserves. The event of our Republican status was not a religious affair even if Ghanaians claim to be extremely religious. That even was the consolidation of our independence and statehood as a sovereign nation.
To declare the day a National Day of prayer and thanksgiving diminishes the essence of our Republican status. This day could be used as a forum to get renowned and informed opinion leaders in our various communities to assemble pupils and students and engage them in an education process of what our Republican status represents.
As for a National Day of prayer and thanksgiving it should be a day of solemn prayer and thanksgiving in our homes culminating in a final prayer in our Churches and Mosques across the country, but definitely not on Republic Day. America has the most celebrated Thanksgiving Day. It’s a day for families to come together in solemn thanksgiving.
What sense does it make to have a crowd congregate at one venue where about half the number were seen on national television fidgeting with their mobile phones? We cannot afford to engage in religious activities just for the optics.
A listening government must not only be a slogan: it must be in action.
Neho!!
