Francis Amoako-Attah, the General Overseer of Freedom Chapel International Ministry and Presiding Apostle, has encouraged Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President, to see that the contentious National Cathedral project is completed.
He said that Dr. Bawumia might be destined to complete this project, which has been deeply contentious and has been on hold for years.
“Your Excellency, maybe prophetically, the reason why that hole is still there is because God wants you to fulfil it,” Apostle Amoako-Attah stated during a meeting between the clergy and the Vice President on Tuesday, June 4, as part of his visit of the Greater Accra Region.
“It’s going to be so prophetic that once upon a time, a temple was built, and the president who dedicated a temple for the Christians was a Muslim.”
“Everything within your power, together with the team, to bring the church and the government together,” the apostle of Freedom Chapel International Ministry advised the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to do. If at all feasible, he also suggested turning the project over to a private organisation for management.
Apostle Amoako-Attah also said, “I’m so happy now that we have found somebody who is bringing the church into governance.”
He went on to say that until Ghanaians get a different perspective of politics, it will always be perceived as dirty.
Bawumia says to Clergy, “Let’s figure out how to finish the National Cathedral project.”
In response, the Vice President urged the church to work with the government to find a way to move forward with finishing the project.
He stressed the need for the church to unite and engage with the government to explore ways to secure private resources to complete the project.
He emphasised that the church must come together and work with the government to find ways to obtain private funding to finish the project
“The question of the National Cathedral is a very important one. I have personally contributed to its construction. I believe it is a very important thing for Ghana.”
“The church has to come together and meet the government so that we can talk about the way forward. The church must come together and let the government know the best way forward on how we can get private resources to help us complete the National Cathedral,” he said on Monday.
Insuring everyone that a solution can be found through teamwork, Dr. Bawumia stated, “If we all come together, we will figure it out.”
Background
The building of the Cathedral is in fulfillment of a pledge President Akufo-Addo claimed to have made to God before winning the 2016 elections.
The 5,000-seater auditorium Cathedral project will also bequeath to the country a gracious national park for all Ghanaians, bring new skills, technology and jobs to the country and act as a beacon to national, regional and international tourists.
In 2021, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta announced that the government will commission the ongoing National Cathedral project on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, but that did not happen as work on the project has stalled with millions of dollars already spent on it.
Aside from the lack of funds to continue the project, the project’s construction has been embroiled in a lot of controversy with the National Cathedral Secretariat accused of misapplying the funds.
A member of the board of the project, Rev. Kusi Boateng has been dragged to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to be investigated over an alleged conflict of interest, including possession of multiple identities and other alleged criminal dealings.
The petitioner, MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, alleged among other things that there was a transfer of GH¢2.6 million from the National Cathedral Secretariat to JNS Talent Centre Limited owned by Rev. Kusi Boateng under a secondary identity – Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
Mr Ablakwa said the petition was seeking to invoke the mandate of CHRAJ under Article 218 of the 1992 Constitution to investigate the “odious conflict of interest” with regard to Rev. Boateng’s position on the National Cathedral board as he “literally paid his own company a staggering GH¢2.6 million for no work done”.