Features
When God speaks to the Clergy about the National Cathedral project
News circulating on social media platform indicate that two eminent clergymen and members of the Board of trustees of the controversial National Cathedral project have called for its immediate suspension and audit.
The two prominent personalities, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams and Reverend Eastwood Anaba, were quoted to have said that their call was based on the controversies surrounding the project.
According to them, the suspension would pave the way for transparency and accountability to be provided to the Ghanaian people. In a memo sent to the Board of Trustees on Monday, January 23, and sighted by My JoyOnline.com, the two persons called for an independent audit into the expenditures of the project. They noted that the auditors must be one that was nationally recognised.
CONCERNS OF TWO CLERGYMEN
Hear the two respected clergymen in the excerpts of the memo: “That in the spirit and cause of transparency and accountability to the Ghanaian people, the current Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral shall appoint an independent, nationally recognised accounting firm to audit all public funds contributed to and spent by the National cathedral. Auditors will also audit the overall cost of the project. The appointment of an auditor, shall take place before the deferment of activities of the Board of Trustees”.
The two eminent and respectable pastors were also quoted to have said that the national cathedral project should not continue until the economic conditions in the country are improved. According to them, the current activities advancing to the construction of the project should be deferred until the atmospheric conditions in Ghana are improved and the audit of the cathedral account is done.
REASONS BEHIND BISHOP HEWARD-MILLS RESIGNATION
In the midst of controversies, the founder of the Lighthouse Chapel International, Bishop Dag Heward- Mills resigned from the Cathedral’s Board of Trustees in August 2022. In so doing the eminent and revered pastor, did not give specific reason for his resignation, which gave room for Ghanaians to speculate and give their own conjectures about his unilateral decision to resign. However, his resignation letter which appeared to have been leaked recently, attributed his exit to unresolved concerns about the cost of the National cathedral project and other pertinent issues.
The National Cathedral Project spearheaded by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, remains one of the controversial national public issues since the project was announced by the President some years back.
Apart from the accountability issues which were raised by the Minority caucus in Parliament, there have been many concerns raised by the majority of Ghanaians about the relevance of the project, especially at this particular time when the country is in dire economic crisis.
CONTROVERSY OVER THE CATHEDRAL PROJECT
Many were those who thought that even though the idea for the construction of this edifice was not entirely bad and that all things being equal, the project can go on uninterrupted, they felt that it was so strange that while the economic hardships were so severe and unbearable, moneys are being channeled into the construction of this project in the face of the present economic challenges.
Most of the country’s health facilities are in poor state with shortage of essential drugs and life- saving equipment such as oxygen, laboratory equipment, hospital beds, drips among others.
Besides, children are squatting and writing on bare floors due to lack of classrooms furniture, while school children are studying under very difficult and terrible conditions with no classroom accommodation, yet the country is spending huge sums of money to build a cathedral to serve as a monument for one particular person.
OKUDZETO ABLAKWA’S ARGUMENT
Honourable Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu Constituency in the Volta Region and the outspoken legislature, has been a regular advocate against the project since the announcement by the government to undertake the project.
His argument is simply that Ghana with its current needs and ailing economy does not need a national cathedral. He opined that funds that was being used for that project could be channeled into improving the lives and living conditions of Ghanaians. Currently he has gone to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), challenging some of the key people against certain irregularities within the project.
Indeed, this particular cathedral project, is an issue that has attracted a lot of public criticism and condemnations whatsoever. Members of the Board of Trustees, mostly from the clergy have initially unanimously supported the idea for the construction of this cathedral since it falls within their domain and nobody can fault them since they are entitled to their opinions.
They have initially turned blind eye to the critics believing that they are anti-Christ and, would not like the house of God to be built. But that should not be the case at all in the midst of the current economic turmoil which has persuaded the country to run to the International Monetary Fund to seek a bailout for the economy which is sick and in comma.
GHANA’S CHRISTIANITY POPULATION
Ghana is a country in which Christianity has dominated the population with 71.3 percent being member of various Christian denominations, according to the National Population Census held in 2021. It means the majority of the people subscribed to Christianity and believe in the teachings of the Almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth.
However, in a situation in which we find ourselves at this particular point in time, we cannot channel resources into a project that will not inure to the total benefit of the people and the good Lord Himself understands that.
We only hope and pray that when the economy stabilises and we are in the position to accommodate a project such as a national cathedral, we can then take an advantage of that and the people will give their fullest support to it and even contribute towards its construction.
THE VOICES OF OUR CLERGYMEN
It is so refreshing that some of the eminent clergymen in the society who happen to be members of the National Trustee of the National Cathedral has been spoken to the Almighty God to hasten slowly in this particular project in view of our present circumstance and also to ensure the fullest accountability of the investment made so far in this project. That is indeed, heartwarming and welcoming news and we hope other members will follow the shining example.
We also hope that the President being a listening head of state, will accommodate the concerns of the majority of Ghanaians and hold on to the project for now, as we find ways to bring the economy back on track.
Nobody is against the construction of a place for religious activities, but it has to be done when our priorities are right. Ghanaians cannot sacrifice their impoverished, poverty and sufferings at the expense of a national cathedral which has no bearing on their living conditions whatsoever.
The government must face facts and do things that are beneficial and inure to the progress of our dear country. Anything short of that, will not be tolerated by the majority of people who find themselves in abject poverty and find it difficult to make ends meet.
Contact email/WhatsApp of author:
ataani2000@yahoo.com
0277753946/0248933366
By Charles Neequaye
Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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