National Cathedral: Stop robbing us with God’s name – Pee Yalley tackles Akufo-Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo’s drive to construct a National Cathedral with state funds has been described as robbery by Ambassador Sam Pee Yalley.

The legal practitioner and politician said the NDC is not against the construction of the Cathedral but rather the manner in which it is being prioritised and funded at a time the government is at the doorsteps of the IMF for a $ 3 million bailout.

Speaking on Dwaboase on TV XYZ, the National President of the NDC Professionals Forum (PRO-FORUM) wondered which benefit the citizens stand to gain from the construction of a facility which President Akufo-Addo has said is a fulfilment of a promise he personally made to God before becoming the country’s leader.

In his estimation, the project is not a priority at a time economic hardship is being battled by almost every household.

He also kicked against the use of state funds to finance the cathedral which some revered men of God have raised red flags over.

For instance, the Minority in parliament has revealed that about 339 million cedis have been withdrawn from the country’s Consolidated Fund to finance the controversial national cathedral project.

Apart from questions of accountability which have been repeatedly raised by the Minority in Parliament, there have also been concerns about the relevance of the project as the country cannot sustain its debts coupled with high inflation.

The questions led to two eminent clergymen and members of the Board of Trustees of the controversial National Cathedral project calling for its immediate suspension.

The two – Archbishop Duncan Williams and Reverend Eastwood Anaba asked for a financial audit to be undertaken before the project could continue.

Earlier in 2022, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, the founder and leader of the Lighthouse Chapel International resigned secretly from the Board of Trustees of the project.

In the letter sighted by Citi News, Bishop Heward-Mills expressed disappointment at the leadership of the National Cathedral for ignoring concerns he raised in several letters he wrote to them with the recent one being in June 2022 through the Ghana Charismatic Bishops’ Conference.

Part of it reads, “I feel that the treatment of the issues I have raised in my several letters has been unfortunate. My letters have been ignored in the past; not attended to for years, and at best addressed flippantly.”

“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.”

It is for this reason that Pee Yalley wants the government to stop using state funds illegally to finance the project.

“We in the NDC revere God but the government should not use the Cathedral as a vehicle to steal from Ghanaians,” he told host Prince Minkah in Akan. “Why go into a contingency vault to build a cathedral?”

“President Akufo-Addo is a bad leader; He is a bad driver who has led the country to a low level…And with all these economic challenges, he is focused on building a cathedral,” he lamented.

Sam Pee Yalley, a veteran legal practitioner chastised the managers of the economy and admonished the president to focus on tackling the economic mess his cousin, Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Finance, has created in the country.

“In this present age when Nigeria is implementing agricultural policies to feed its people; Rwanda is developing science…Ghana under this president we are going back to Biblical times, some 2,000 years back to look for Bible quotations when others are going to the scientific world,” Pee Yalley criticised.

To him, Akufo-Addo and his cohorts are stealing from Ghanaians in the name of the project.