Let Christians build the National Cathedral – Joe Jackson tells Gov’t

A Financial Analyst and the Chief Operating Officer of Dalex Finance, Mr Joe Jackson has advised government to allow the Christian community in the country build the cathedral going forward.

Speaking on TheKeyPoint on TV3 on Saturday, June 4, monitored by GhanaPlus.com, he said that will be legitimate since public funds belong to all Ghanaians including other faith.

“I will urge everybody else who is involved, if you can donate, let this be something that was built by Christians not with all of us our money. I think that is a legitimate desire, that let it be built by Christians because once you use public funds then there is other faith involved because public funds are public funds, everybody has a contribution in there”.

Mr Joe Jackson was contributing to the report government has released some 25millon Cedis for the construction of the National Cathedral in Accra despite the biting financial difficulties confronting the country and its citizens.

A letter sighted by GhanaPlus.com, dated March 31 and signed by the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta said “Authority is hereby granted to release the sum of 25million Ghana Cedis as additional seed money to the National Cathedral Secretariat for the construction of the National Cathedral for part payment of the outstanding claim from RIBADE.”

The letter addressed to the Controller and Accountant General has since sparked agitations with many questioning what government’s priorities are?

But Speaking on the programme, Mr Joe Jackson said government must consider suspending its involvement in the project in the face of the current economic hardship.

He advised Christians in the country to take up the project and continue its construction instead.

The National Cathedral

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo in 2018 lunched the National Cathedral project, a planned interdenominational Christian cathedral to be hosted in Accra.

He revealed, the project was a pledge he made to God prior to his elections in 2016.

“Rather and again, like Solomon on that occasion, the building of the National Cathedral is to serve as a gesture of a thanksgiving to God for his blessings, favour, grace and mercies on our nation and to give me an opportunity to redeem a pledge I made to Him before I became a president,” he said.

“It will provide us with an avenue to all the nation to prayer, to worship, to celebrate and to mourn. It will house a Bible Museum and will be an ionic infrastructure for national, regional and international pilgrimage and tourism.  It will create jobs and serve as a catalyst for technology and skills transfer into our country,” the president said at the launch of the National Cathedral in Accra”.

The world class facility when completed will host a 5, 000 seater auditorium, chapels, a baptistery, a music school, an art gallery and a museum dedicated to the bible.

It was designed by British-Ghanaian architect, David Adjaye.