Work on National Cathedral project suspended over inadequate funds

Work on the National Cathedral project has been suspended, the Executive Director of the project has disclosed.

Dr Paul Opoku-Mensah said the Secretariat has run out of capital to finance the construction.

He made this revelation on Tuesday when the Redeem Christian Church of God donated to the Secretariat.

“We have the contractors and their staff onsite, but the work has been suspended. We are hoping that within the next couple of weeks, as part of our fundraising and other initiatives we can begin work again,” he stated.

According to him, “our ability to complete this work keenly depends on Ghanaians supporting it.”

The much-talked-about project resurfaced in the media space earlier this year after controversies surrounding the financing of the project heightened.

The Finance Minister had announced that an amount of ¢25 million had been released to the project consultants in May 2022.

This was the second time money tagged as “seed money” was being released except that in the first instance the amount involved was $25million and it was said to have been paid in November 2020.

Despite the issuance of about three press statements, many were still unclear in their minds about the financing arrangements for the construction of the Cathedral which had been described by the President as a “priority of priorities”.

However, Dr Opoku-Mensah has urged Ghanaians to support the cause.

According to him, the ambition can only be actualised if the populace unites and contribute to the building of the edifice.

“The money might be big in terms of volume but if indeed we have 21 million Christians and a million can give us ₵100 a month for a year, we can easily complete this in time.

“I refuse to believe that we can’t get a million Ghanaians out of the 21 million Christians to support this. I still have faith in the Ghanaian and I am confident that we will do this,” he said.