The National Cathedral Board of Trustees says the public should not worry over the monetary affairs of the construction of the national cathedral.
While the Chairman of the board, Apostle Professor Opoku Onyinah, described the controversies around the project as “very serious”, he assured that there was “nothing fishy about the monetary affairs.”
“We cannot betray the trust the nation through the president has given to us,” he added.
The Secretary of the board, Rev Kusi Boateng further assured that the board will not be used as a channel for personal agendas.
One of the controversies has been around payments to the architect of the over-$350 million project.
But Rev, Boateng said, “it was clear that the government was going to take care of Adjaye and Associates.”
“There is no secrecy surrounding this project and at the right time, whatever needs to be published will be published and whatever needs to be said will be said,” he added.
The secretariat believes it has been getting support from all Ghanaians amid the criticism of the project.
One of the points of contention has been the lack of clarity on the amount of money the secretariat has been able to raise for the project.
But Prof. Onyinah stressed that “the church must mobilise themselves to raise funds to build the project.”
While he said the secretariat was open to providing information on the project, he said it could not speak to issues of procurement and parliamentary approval of disbursement of government funds.
“We appeal to all of you to allow these procedural issues to be addressed at their levels,” Prof. Onyinah said.
They were speaking during a press briefing on the launch of the National Cathedral Week Celebrations, slated for July 4 to July 10, 2022 .
