We will build the National Cathedral in 18 months if – Joyce Aryee

“One million people, a minimum of Gh₵100 a month, we will be able to complete it in about 18month,” Rev Dr Joyce Rosalind Aryee, a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral has said.

She made the comment on GhanaTonight on TV3 on Tuesday, December 27, monitored by GhanaPlus.com.

“We are anchoring the fund raising on the notion that if one million people gave a minimum of a Gh₵100 a month. One million people, a minimum of Gh₵100 a month, we will be able to complete it in about 18month”.

She made the comment while responding to questions of controversies, transparency and conversations surrounding the national interdenominational project lunched by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2018.

Cathedral was never intended to be solely funded by government – Dr Aryee

According to her, the project was never intended to be funded fully by government but with support from the public and Christians at large.

She revealed government was only to provide the land, the secretariat, the seed money and payment for the architect and consultancy.

“The cathedral was never meant to be constructed entirely with state resources. It never was meant to be and when the idea was conceived by the President, his idea was that the state will participate partially and then believers will take up the rest and so the state promise was land, the remuneration for the architect and his design team and as consultant and then seed money,” Dr Aryee explained.

National Cathedral

The National Cathedral of Ghana, a pledge made to God by Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo prior to his elections in 2016 has become unpopular among the citizens due to the large sums of government revenues being channeled into its development despite the country’s economic challenges.

As of November this year, government have spent a whooping GH¢339,003,064.86 on the project which is still at the foundation stage.

Estimated to cost some $200million initially, and $370million currently, many are of the view the project should be halted until said time the country is financially stable but government shares contrary opinion.

Few days ago, Ghana’s Parliament rejected a 80million budget allocation to the project in the 2023 budget statement.

The planned interdenominational Christian cathedral to be hosted in Accra  was  lunched in 2018 by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

When completed, the world class facility designed by British-Ghanaian architect, David Adjaye will host a 5, 000 seater auditorium, chapels, a baptistery, a music school, an art gallery and a museum dedicated to the bible.

Source: GhanaPlus.com