'Cathedral enclave parceled for private developer in 2016' - Gabby Otchere-Darko

The construction of the National Cathedral will not be funded by the state, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, cousin to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has said, revealing that the same enclave for the edifice, which has now become the subject of national debate, was clandestinely packaged for a private developer in 2016 to be used for building prestige homes.

According to him, the idea of the cathedral and its location could not be more perfect.

President Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday, 6 March 2018 unveiled the design and architecture of the national Cathedral at a brief ceremony at the Accra International Conference Centre.

It would house impressive chapels and baptistery, a 5,000-capacity auditorium, grand central hall, music school, choir rehearsal and multi-use spaces, an art gallery and a shop.

The President said the edifice was going to be an iconic centre for Thanksgiving and to worship God for His mercies. He called for all to find space to support the construction of the project.

Making that a reality, however, requires the pulling down of some state institutions including bungalows, some of which were built five years ago. Some judges are being relocated to pave way for the demolition of their bungalows for the project to start.

This development has attracted mixed feelings among the Ghanaian public. For instance, Cultural Anthropologist Osofo Kofitse-Ahadzi, has said, the construction of the Cathedral is a useless exercise and waste of resources.

In his view, the project is a diversionary tactic being employed by the government to sway attention from its incompetence.

“I feel sad that this government is jumping from one controversy to the other. What is the use of the cathedral? What have we not seen in this country with the work in those so-called cathedrals? This is a useless exercise and a diversionary exercise.

“Who told them that God resides in a cathedral? After all, don’t they do evil in those cathedrals? In their churches what don’t we see them do? Those so-called men of God are men of their own gods, they go in for devilish energies to bamboozle the people.

“This is the height of confusion, incompetence, inability to govern and you must go because you can’t govern. Why do you have to be wasting our ears?” He said on Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM hosted by Chief Jerry Forson on Monday, 27 August 2018.

But in Facebook post, Mr Otchere-Darko said: “The Cathedral is a great idea. The location is perfect. The means of funding, not with public funds, is refreshing. The Cathedral must be built. The judges will be housed and even more decently.