A member of the board of trustees for the National Cathedral has said the criticisms against building the facility has been one-sided with no one bothering to look at the benefits of the country having the facility.

Artistic impression of the yet-to-be built National Cathedral

 

Rev. Dr Paul Frimpong-Manso, who is also the General Superintendent of the Assembly of God church, said although people are complaining about the cost of the facility, there are lots of waste in the nation that have been ignored.

Rev.Prof. Paul Frimpong-Manso, General Superintendent of Assemblies of God, Ghana

He told Joy News’ Evans Mensah on Newsnight Monday that, leaving the building of the facility in the name of the nation struggling to adequately pay for education and health is neither here nor there as such complaints will persist in the next 10 year.

Government’s decision to demolish buildings including residences of judges to make way for the construction of a national cathedral has been criticized as inappropriate.

Private legal practitioner Samson Lardy Anyenini has questioned the rationale behind pulling down all buildings [sited] from the Ridge Circle to the Scholarship Secretariat, the Judicial Training Institute at East Ridge, the passport office and other structures and about ten six-bedroom bungalows built by the Judicial Service to house Court of Appeal Judges.

These buildings are located in prime areas in Accra and in the case of the judges were built only five years ago. Government has indicated it will resettle the affected judges who have been served notice to leave their homes.

This does not impress the man of God who said, “the question is not the National Cathedral, the question is indiscipline, corruption, mismanagement of resources and the rest.

“Every year, we hear from the Auditors Report and the Public Accounts Committee about people misusing public funds and walking free on our land,” he argued.

He agrees it is costly but believes it will serve its purpose because there is nothing cheap anywhere in the world especially with putting up such edifices of national importance.

He argues that there were people who spoke, demonstrated and even died protesting about the Value Added Tax, Health Insurance and the Free SHS policy when they were introduced, but in the end, it served the nation’s interest.

“I don’t see it as a misplaced priority…we are people under God and we want to do something as a national symbol to honour God whom a majority of Ghana’s believe and accept,” he said.

He is convinced the building of the Cathedral is the right move initiated by the president and called for all Ghanaians to embrace and give it the necessary support to see the light of day.

Rev Dr Paul Frimpong-Manso also confirmed that a member of the Assemblies of God church has donated $2 million towards the building of Cathedral.

 

Source: myjoyfmonline.com