The Executive Director of the Afrobarometer Network, Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, has urged government to explain terms under which the proposed National Cathedral is to be constructed.
According to Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, if the construction of the cathedral will be constructed with public funds, then the Christian community – whom the Cathedral will be dedicated to – is robbing the poor.
He explains that allocation of resources to the poor will dwindle next year compared to this year because scarce resources would have been deployed into the construction of the cathedral.
He said “the national cathedral is a complex one and I don’t know the terms but We need to clear about the terms and we need to know a lot about the terms upon which the cathedra is been constructed for the Christian community and its leadership. If they (government) is paying the full cost of it, paying for the land or paying for replacement of the houses, livelihood that would be disrupted and so on, if they are paying for that and all that the state is doing is facilitating their payment maybe helping them to get state of the art architectural designer that is fine, if any of these is coming from public funds then I’m afraid that the Christians and their leaders are simply robbing the poor because surely when it comes to the allocation of resources the poor would get fewer resources next year than they got this year and it would be partly because some of the scare resources have been deplored into the construction of a cathedral.”
“If that is the case it’s only then that I would conclude that the clergy has captured the state” he added
Government announced that several building structures including nine bungalows occupied by Appeal court judges would be demolished for the commencement of a 5000 seater capacity state-of-the-art cathedral which will include a Bible museum and a Documentation center.
This step by the government has received a lot of backlash and debate by both the opposition party and the general public as they questioned the relevance of the project; while others have described the motive as misguided priority.
Source: Ghanaweb.com
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Prof should stop making a nuisance of himself with such provocative statements
@Noble The land was given to the muslim community because a foreign donner country wanted to build a national mosque for Ghanaian muslims. This was a very plausable idea and the govt of the day obliged and gave out that land. The christian community approached the present govt and pleaded with the govt for land to build a national cathederal. Indeed they came out with the design and the govt yielded to their request and assured them of land. This is being funded by the christian churches.Now Noble make your comparism.
Why was the land giving to the Muslim community to Build the National Mosque. Lets know that first before we start comparing issues.
Prof, the govt has repeatedly said it is not funding the project. It is, however, giving out land for that purpose and the funding will be borne by the various churches. I don't see the hulabaloo about this. The national mosque at kawokudi is built on govt land donated by govt but the funding was by a foreign dinner country. The national cathedral will be built on govt land donated by govt and funding will be by the churches themselves. Would someone ask Sheik Aremeyaw Shaibu why he did not propose an interfaith edifice when the kawokudi mosque was being built? Please let us not create inter-religious rivalry in this our dear country where all religions have co-existed peacefully. We have only one country and I tell you honestly, this is the envy of many countries. To prof, I would humbly submit that he desists from introducing politics into this.
But it is okay to rob the poor to build schools and hospitals to support government infrastructure development. The Prof spoke like a lame duck who doesnt value the massive contribution of the chueches to that state. It is a clear sign of disrespect to the churches. It is so sad that people who have benefited from the benevolence of churches are the ones leading this sad crusade. Check the total value of schools and hospitals build by the churches alone and compare to the value of just one cathedral.
Oh! Prof. You failed the test. You said were not sure of the terms but went ahead to set your own questions and answered same. You see yourself. It is not by force go ahead to answer any question if you do not know. A word to the wise is enough.
Churches have built magnificent places of worship. Some have acquired different kinds of property including jets out of the contributions of the "poor". Has Prof Boadi seen that?