National Cathedral: Dag Heward-Mills said nothing new – Kwesi Pratt

Kwesi Pratt Jnr, the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper reckons the concerns raised by the founder of the United Denomination Originating from the Lighthouse Group of Churches (UD-OLGC), Bishop Dag Heward-Mills with regards to the construction of the National Cathedral are but a rehash of the concerns by the general public.

Kwesi Pratt says people like himself have been raising similar concerns about the project with no answers being provided.

Pratt reiterated that his biggest issue with the National Cathedral is the choice of location for the construction.

The veteran journalist stressed that regardless of the amount of thinking he does, he is still unable to find a reason why the government opted to site the cathedral at where it is being constructed.

“Bishop Dag Heward-Mills has not raised any issue which is new. All the issues he has raised are the issues which have been raised about the Cathedral. One of the things that has killed me completely is the site which was selected for the problem. Up till today, I can’t find any common sensical grounds for the choice of that site.

“We are in court right now following a suit by one of the ejected companies and he is asking over $100m. If you want to build a cathedral, do you have to pull down a building worth 100 and something million? This is the site that was housing justices of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

“ Some of those buildings were not eighteen months old when they were pulled down. So there is no land here in Accra or Ghana for the building of a Cathedral even if we accept that the building of a cathedral is important. I’m so happy that a member of the trustees of the cathedral is raising these issues.

“He says he has been to all the meetings and some of the decisions coming out do not come from the trustees so the question is who is hiding at some corner and making decisions about the National Cathedral without reference to the trustees? This whole thing has become such a huge mess,” he said.

In his letter of resignation published by Citi FM, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills outlined some reasons behind his decision to stepdown.

“You may recall I have spoken passionately and written extensively about the costs, the design, the location, the fundraising, the mobilization of the churches, and the role of the trustees. These, if heeded, would have made our project more achievable. Generally speaking, my inputs, my opinions, and my letters have been trivialized and set aside.”

With regards to the directors of the board, he said he was surprised he was not registered as Director of the Company of the National Cathedral of Ghana despite the fact that President had “verbally appointed him as such."

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills also said he was shocked some unknown individuals were the real Trustees of the Board despite the fact that he was the director for 6 years without being registered.

“I do not believe this is an oversight but a deliberate exclusion from the Board. Six years is a long time to correct this failure to register me if it was indeed an administrative lapse.

“l have therefore accepted for some time now that I am not a trustee of the National Cathedral, but I have still sought to help with the Cathedral because I believe in the President’s vision and I do not have to be a legally registered trustee to do so. I refer to myself in this letter as a trustee because even though l am not privy to most of the weighty decisions of the Board I am referred to as such.”

KPE