Member of Parliament (MP) for Mpraeso Davis Ansah Opoku has backed his colleague Andrew Egyapa Mercer on the need for government to solely fund the National Cathedral project.
The National Cathedral has become very topical in recent times with claims that Government has not been truthful to the people of Ghana about the source of funding for the project.
A leaked letter from the Finance Ministry indicated that government has released GHC 25 million as part of seed money for the fund even though the communication earlier was that the Cathedral will not be built with state resources.
Reacting to the various argument, Davis Ansah Opoku indicated that it’s imperative the government funds the project and is shocked that elements in government have failed to explain to the people of Ghana what the intended purpose of the Cathedral is.
“Today in our country, we will admit that we lack a place where we could converge as a people. I mean we all know on the 7th of January just after the elections Presidents are supposed to be sworn before Parliament for lack of space we have always yielded to the Independence Square where Parliament will have to move from Parliament to the Independence Square largely because of the individuals that are invited to also observe proceedings.
When we have a state funeral, recently the former Second Lady of Ghana’s funeral was at the precincts of Parliament and clearly, you’ll see that it was not a proper place to have held a funeral. Cathedrals worldwide I mean when you go to the UK, the US has served that purpose where huge events are held. If for example it’s January 7 and we are swearing in a President and it rains, what do we do? It means that the whole programme has to be called off. The time is now for the state to have a national place of converging and that is the more reason why I support that the state should as a matter of urgency accept the fact that the National Cathedral is a matter of importance to the people and fund it from state coffers,” he said on Accra-based Joy News.
