National Cathedral: 3 major things Dag Heward-Mills’ letter said

On January 17, details of some reasons the leader of the Lighthouse Chapel International, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills resigned from the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral project emerged.

This comes barely six months after he announced his resignation, even though the Bishop Dag Heward-Mills did not personal share the reasons for resignation, his letter of resignation indicated that it was due to ignored concerns that were raised for years with regards with the construction of the National Cathedral.

GhanaWeb highlights some of the key things that triggered his resignation and his thoughts about the National Cathedral;

US$30m used to dig just a pit

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills said questions being raised by Ghanaians on the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana are legitimate.

According to him, the public have the right to ask questions about the project because, 6 years after the construction of the project started and after using $30 million of public funds, they can only see a huge pit in the centre of Accra.

“I am a firm believer in the president’s vision. I believe that the public can see and is questioning the fact that we have spent almost six years since the sod-cutting of this project as well as over $30m (thirty million dollars) of public funds, to excavate a massive pit in the centre of the city.

“I do believe that many of the questions that are being asked and hurled at the National Cathedral Project are reasonable and legitimate questions by objective citizens who just want answers to their questions,” parts of the letter as quoted by citinewsroom.com said.

How Sir David Adjaye landed National Cathedral job – Dag Heward-Mills details

Dag Heward-Mills also said in his letter that he was uncomfortable that whereas the trustees existed and were known by the public, almost all decisive moves were made by the government and not the clergymen.

One of such decisions is the engagement of Sir David Adjaye as the architect for the National Cathedral project.

In a letter written to the Executive Director of the Board of Trustees which has been published by Citi FM, Dag Heward-Mills said he once quizzed Sir David Adjaye on how he landed the role as the lead architect for the project.

As it turned out, Sir David Adjaye was engaged by the government on the blindside of the Board of Trustees.

“It must be noted that we as trustees did not appoint the world class architect nor did we come up with the Cathedral project costing $350m. I believe such cost will be determined by a quantity surveyor and we’ve not had any interactions with the quantity surveyor.

“The church in Ghana does not have such resources and the church in Ghana knows this. A purely governmental council for the National Cathedral will be also be helpful. As at now, it is clear that the government is actually taking huge decisions concerning the National Cathedral and not the trustees. It will be good for us to have a governmental council whose identity will be known to all and answer questions on behalf of the government.

“It may be recalled that I asked Sir David Adjaye at a trustees meeting whether he had received a contract from the government to build the National Cathedral. I asked him if he had received a contract in the same way that someone will receive a governmental contract to build a dam or a bridge. He answered that indeed he had such a contract with the government of Ghana. He answered that he had a contract to build the National Cathedral from the government,” parts of the letter said.

Despite my resignation, I fully support National Cathedral project - Heward-Mills clarifies

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills also indicated that despite having resigned as a trustee, he is not against the construction of the national cathedral.

“…I do not wish the media or general public to construe my withdrawal as a sign of a lack of support or belief in the building of the National Cathedral,” he said.

NYA/WA