Cape Coast South Member of Parliament, Kweku George Ricketts-Hagan has intimated that the deception by government regarding the National Cathedral project is what has caused the public outcry.
According to Mr. Ricketts-Hagan, this deception that the project was private which wasn’t, has become the main issue with some stakeholders calling for it to be halted.
George Ricketts-Hagan explained that the project was initially disguised as a private project only for the state to now start injecting public funds into it. In his view, there is nothing wrong with building the cathedral.
“He never said he was building the cathedral for Ghanaians; the cathedral was being built in honor of the pledge made by the President that, if God helps him to win 2016 elections he will build his church in honor of his name which is something that has been done in the past by Kings and by other people. There is nothing wrong with that.
“The wrong is the deception, the wrong is for the President telling us that he is building something which is supposed to be his personal pledge which then becomes private and will be funded by the private sector by going round the world to raise funds and then it happens that it is the state which is gradually and progressively funding this structure. That is where the problem.”
Kweku George Ricketts-Hagan
Projects will become national treasure
According to Ricketts-Hagan, he can choose to build the cathedral to honor God if he wins the Cape coast election and that will be his personal pledge. He stated that building something of that sort will be of benefit to his constituents because, eventually, all these churches or cathedrals built by Kings and Queens were built as their own personal properties but ended up becoming a treasure for the country.
“You have the St. Peter’s Basilica which is in Rome, the Vatican, Italy built and now it is a tourist destination; you have St Paul’s Cathedral in the UK, London; you have the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood in Russia for same purpose, Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro; these have become tourist attractions.”
Kweku George Ricketts-Hagan
Mr. Ricketts-Hagan averred that going back into history, the intention upon which churches were built was basically to serve God but the economics side of it is also seen.
Contributing to the discussion, Senior Governance Advisor, Professor David Abdulai intimated that if the National Cathedral Secretariat had said from the beginning that the project was a public project, the public outcry would not have been this much.
In is view, since it has now been established that it is a public project, the managers should let the public know what the financing entails. “The details must be clear to the public.”
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