National Cathedral was horribly planned – Selorm Branttie hits at govt

Policy analyst and Vice President of Imani Africa, Selorm Branttie, has lashed out at the government over the construction of the controversial National Cathedral, which is now in limbo.

He described the execution of the National Cathedral as a “pointless exercise” which was “horribly planned.”

During an interview on The Big Issue on Citi TV/Citi FM, Mr. Branttie said, “No cathedral has been built within four years, regardless of the amount of technology that is now available. So right from the get-go, this was a project that was horribly thought through, horribly planned, and horribly executed so far. Like the tower of Babel, it was a pointless exercise. The repercussions are actually a monument to our collective failures as a nation.”

Asked if the National Cathedral should be handed over to the church, the Vice President of IMANI Africa suggested that the monies spent so far on the Cathedral should be accounted for.

“I also align with the calls of the clergy, those who just resigned from the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral, that there has been a lot of partial misrepresentation with regard to the intentions of the government, especially President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his aides and all those who support the building of the Cathedral. Before anything can be handed over, every cedi that was spent on this project must be accounted for,” he told Selorm Adonoo, host of The Big Issue.

We must know where all the monies came from, who the monies went to, all the subcontractors, and the beneficiary owners of the entities that were all contracted. So that we can have a very clear idea of where the money went. Without that, we cannot hand anything over,” he told Selorm Adonoo, host of The Big Issue.

The Founder and General Overseer of United Denominations of Action Chapel Churches Worldwide, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, and President of the Eastwood Anaba Ministries, Rev. Eastwood Anaba, on October 12, resigned from the Board of Trustees overseeing the construction of the National Cathedral in Ghana.

The founder and leader of the Lighthouse Chapel International, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, also resigned from the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral project in August 2022.

The National Cathedral, a project initiated to serve as a national place of worship and a symbol of unity and pride for Ghanaians, has been a subject of debate and controversy since its inception.