The immediate past General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Reverend Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, says the new national cathedral proposed to be built will be at the cost of Christians and other interested parties and not government per se.
“This cathedral is not going to be built by government,” he stressed.
Speaking on TV3’s Midday Live on Monday, the Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology said government only offered to facilitate the process of land acquisition.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced the construction of a national cathedral as part of Ghana’s 60th independence anniversary.
He consequently cut sod for the construction on March 6, 2017.
A 13-member board of trustees was also commissioned and tasked to see to the location and subsequent construction of the 5,000-seater capacity edifice.
Chairman of the board is Most Reverend Samuel Asante Antwi, a former President of the Methodist Church-Ghana.
Already, the architectural design drawn by renowned British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye has been unveiled.
But after the board selected the location of the project, there has been public outcry sympathising with persons whose property will be demolished in the Ridge area.
Among these persons will be nine Appeal Court judges.
A petition has, therefore, been sent to the president to stop the exercise for the sake of the judges.
But Rev Dr Opuni-Frimpong said the Christians he knows involved in this project will be open to any suggestions of a change in location.
He said the issue only came up on radio as processes were going on smoothly.
Government Spokesperson on Infrastructure Richard Asante-Yeboah, who was also on the midday news programme, dismissed rumours that the location of the cathedral will see the demolition of facilities like hospitals.
He said valuation has been done and even all but one of the persons to be affected have moved out.
That one person has been asked to move at his own convenience, he said.
He confirmed that government will not inject any funds into the project but will only provide the land for it.
That is government’s equity for the project, he stated.
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana