November 22
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Inside NOV <strong>22</strong>, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 11/21/18 9:36 PM Page 9<br />
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HERITAGE THURSDAY NOVEMBER <strong>22</strong>, 2018<br />
The Cathedral palaver<br />
still lingers on<br />
BY NANA BRAM OKAE II<br />
TO ALL intents and<br />
purposes the discourse<br />
on the<br />
building of the<br />
proposed National<br />
Cathedral is not<br />
over yet. But the question now is<br />
not ‘whether to build or not to<br />
build it’ but rather ‘where to build<br />
it, the location.’<br />
The issue was raised once<br />
again by Arch-Bishop Duncan<br />
Williams at his church last weekend<br />
when he took the pulpit to<br />
preach the word of God.<br />
Passing remark<br />
In a passing remark he spoke<br />
about the building of the National<br />
Cathedral and wondered<br />
why fellow Ghanaian Christians<br />
were against it. He said this was a<br />
project which the sitting President<br />
could not legally will to his<br />
wife and children or to anybody<br />
else because it will become a national<br />
asset to the glory of God<br />
when completed.<br />
He said even Moslems were<br />
not against it because they have<br />
something similar at Kanda and<br />
implored Christians of Ghana to<br />
embrace it because it will be used<br />
for the work of God and country<br />
when it’s built.<br />
The Arch-Bishop even managed<br />
to bring in the political slant<br />
since at the moment everything<br />
in the country is looked from<br />
party political lenses.<br />
‘Against people’<br />
He said: ‘You are against the<br />
building of the Cathedral because<br />
your party, your President is not<br />
the one building it. I have been<br />
here for a while and no President<br />
has come to say I’m building a<br />
Cathedral to the glory of God except<br />
the current President. It’s a<br />
good thing to have a Cathedral, I<br />
support it’.<br />
I thought he went too far on<br />
that tangent although what he<br />
said was true.<br />
If you may recollect, the NDC<br />
opposed the introduction of the<br />
National Health Insurance policy<br />
when it was first mooted under<br />
former President Kufuor and<br />
they even walked out of the<br />
chamber of Parliament when the<br />
bill was about to be read.<br />
Today, they are also vehemently<br />
against the free SHS policy<br />
and have even given notice<br />
that they would review it anytime<br />
they won power.<br />
But, that’s a digression. Let’s<br />
go back to the discourse on the<br />
Cathedral.<br />
Those connected<br />
Those who are connected to<br />
this project say it’s a complex that<br />
will have a sitting capacity for<br />
5000 people at a go but for now<br />
they can’t tell us the estimated<br />
cost of it. How sad!<br />
But there will be conference<br />
rooms, cafeterias and bookshops.<br />
There will also be a museum and<br />
lecture halls. There will be small<br />
chapels where private individuals<br />
can have their own religious<br />
events at a fee. Security workers<br />
and other low level officials will<br />
have their accommodation on site<br />
to make their work easy for them<br />
because they may close very late.<br />
Also, there will be a huge car<br />
park that should be able to accommodate<br />
the cars of all the<br />
potential 5000 guests that will be<br />
present at very important functions<br />
like swearing-in of the head<br />
of state or such similar events.<br />
In short, it will be a monumental<br />
complex and a tourist-attraction<br />
centre, very similar to<br />
what obtains at the Vatican City<br />
in Italy or at Yamussoukro in<br />
Cote d’Ivoire.<br />
•Arch-Bishop Duncan Williams<br />
•The cathedral<br />
Lots of money<br />
This, no doubt, will cost a lot<br />
of money but the government<br />
says no tax payers’ money will be<br />
spent on it, not even a pesewa.<br />
I have a problem with that assertion<br />
though—tax payers’<br />
money will go into it either directly<br />
or indirectly and nobody<br />
can dispute that.<br />
Considering the proposed location<br />
and the massive demolition<br />
that will take place before<br />
the project is begun, that is, if<br />
government goes ahead and insists<br />
on that same location in<br />
spite of massive public opinion<br />
against that, nobody can convince<br />
anybody that tax payers’ money<br />
will not be used in rebuilding all<br />
those structures that will be<br />
pulled down.<br />
Arch-Bishop<br />
Arch-Bishop Duncan Williams<br />
may have a point in saying what<br />
he said at his church but I suspect<br />
that many people who are against<br />
the construction of the Cathedral<br />
are not necessarily against the<br />
building of it but where it is<br />
going to be located—the siting of<br />
it, at a place which is already well<br />
developed for which reason many<br />
expensive buildings may have to<br />
come down and make way for it<br />
in order to fit into the architecture<br />
of the new project.<br />
Crux<br />
That is the crux of the opposition<br />
to the Cathedral and not<br />
because people don’t want it at<br />
all. Ghanaians want the Cathedral<br />
but they want it built at a virgin<br />
place where no demolition of<br />
government structures will take<br />
place whatsoever.<br />
The area needed for this<br />
Cathedral project is massive; we<br />
are told from the Ridge roundabout<br />
encompassing College of<br />
Physicians and Surgeons beautiful<br />
building and ARB Apex Bank<br />
Head office, the residence of the<br />
Greater Accra regional minister<br />
and several other government<br />
buildings in the vicinity.<br />
All these have to go down for<br />
the Cathedral and that is unfortunate.<br />
Economic and<br />
business sense<br />
Honestly, this doesn’t make<br />
economic and business sense at<br />
all. The government should think<br />
again about the location of this<br />
project. If the government goes<br />
ahead to bring all those structures<br />
down in order to erect a Cathedral,<br />
I bet it will lose the next<br />
election in 2020 with ease.<br />
Many factors go into winning<br />
or losing elections. You may take<br />
the cue from the years 2000,<br />
2008, and 2016 and draw your<br />
own conclusions.<br />
The Cathedral doesn’t have to<br />
be at Ridge when there are virgin<br />
lands all over Greater Accra or in<br />
other parts of the country. There<br />
are virgin lands in the Accra<br />
Plains, before or after Miotso; in<br />
the Dodowa area, before or after<br />
Valley View University; on the<br />
Accra-Nsawam road before or<br />
after Kotoku junction. Again,<br />
there are virgin lands soon after<br />
you go past Budumburam in the<br />
Gomoa enclave or after Winneba<br />
junction.<br />
Authority<br />
The government has the authority<br />
to acquire any land anywhere<br />
under executive instrument<br />
for any project required by the<br />
state and I don’t see the reason<br />
why the government will fail to<br />
take advantage of this prerogative<br />
and rather go out of its way to<br />
demolish buildings some of<br />
which are barely 4 years old to<br />
build a Cathedral.<br />
Yes, you can build the Cathedral<br />
but try as much as possible<br />
to reduce cost and don’t tell us no<br />
tax payers’ money will be touched<br />
because that is not true.<br />
Take heart<br />
So, Arch-Bishop Duncan<br />
Williams should take heart.<br />
Ghanaians are not saying they<br />
don’t want any Cathedral built.<br />
They say the area that has been<br />
pin-pointed for the project will<br />
add a huge cost to it by relocating<br />
and reconstructing all the current<br />
facilities there and that will be<br />
costly and needless, to say the<br />
least.<br />
Find a place that will not add<br />
to the cost of the project, directly<br />
or indirectly, and nobody will<br />
raise a finger, Christians and non-<br />
Christians alike.<br />
But if government stays<br />
adamant and goes ahead to pull<br />
down all those existing structures<br />
there, they will not be able to survive<br />
the backlash that will follow<br />
for years. Already, the current<br />
NPP government seems vulnerable.<br />
They say a word to the wise is<br />
enough.
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