Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah, the Executive Director of the National Cathedral of Ghana, has urged the public to reject any reports indicating that the project has been put on hold.
In a statement given at a news conference on Wednesday, he said that despite the pause in building, the project is still in progress and that they are trying to find artifacts for the museum and gardens of the National Cathedral.
“The National Cathedral is almost an institution. It’s going to be one of the largest institutions, so the work continues on a daily basis. In addition to fundraising, we are already engaging those who can give us artifacts. Because if you want to turn this into a world-class site, you need historical artifacts and those you can’t buy,’’ he said during his submission, which was monitored by 1Family Radio.
“Most museums don’t sell these things, and so you negotiate; some will give them to you as gifts or as permanent exhibitions. Those processes are ongoing on a daily basis, and I’m happy to report that. In fact, our first set of religious statues for the museum and the gardens has just been shipped to us from the Abba Anointing Company in Houston, Texas.’’
Dr. Opoku-Mensah listed the actions they had completed, including setting up site offices, preparing the land for the project, installing cranes for work, and buying and installing tons of rebar and other building supplies.
‘’The idea that the board took funds donated for the construction of the cathedral and just “dug a hole” is mischievous,’’ he noted.
He mentioned that reports on the project, together with drawings for the biblical gardens, Bible Museum, and Cathedral, had been given to Parliament.
The project’s implementation has not involved any criminal activity, according to the Executive Director, who also mentioned that two audits of the cathedral project are still in progress to guarantee accountability.
The audits consist of a financial audit by Deloitte and an inquiry by CHRAJ to investigate procurement and conflict of interest issues.
“So the notion somehow that we are running away from accountability is simply false. In fact, since January, CHRAJ has been involved in detailed investigations. We’ve been cooperating. The last information I saw from CHRAJ was a questionnaire to the contractors about how they came to be selected, and they wanted all the details. So everything is being detailed.”
“There’s a detailed audit by Deloitte. The last information they wanted was even anybody who’s contributed to the National Cathedral. They wanted details. So to be sure that there’s not been any issue, we said we are committed to ensuring that the process takes the time it needs so that we will restore confidence in this project,’’ Mr. Opoku added.
According to Dr. Opoku-Mensah, the board has carried out the project honorably and kept track of every dollar that donors and the state have given them.
Source: 1Familyradio