US-based Ghanaian journalist Kevin Taylor says the Christian community should take full responsibility for financing the National Cathedral if it considers the project important enough to pursue.
Taylor said there would be no problem with Christian organisations continuing the project on their own, but he strongly opposed any attempt to return the financial burden to the state.
“If the Christian Council considers the Cathedral a priority, they are perfectly within their rights to mobilise their own resources, raise funds through the churches they lead, acquire land at their own expense, and build the Cathedral,” he shared on social media.
His position comes after Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Minister Mahama Ayariga said there was nothing wrong with the idea of having a National Cathedral, while raising concerns about its original location and how it was funded and executed.
Taylor argued that the government has more pressing responsibilities and should not involve taxpayers in a project that has already generated controversy over public spending.
He said the project had already attracted public frustration because of questions surrounding the millions of dollars spent on it.
“But do not drag the government and the already overburdened Ghanaian taxpayer back into a project that has become synonymous with thievery, corruption, anger, controversy, unanswered questions and public frustration,” he said.
Taylor maintained that if the Christian community wants the Cathedral, churches should mobilise the necessary resources in Ghana and abroad and take ownership of the project.
“At a time when Ghanaians are demanding accountability over how millions of dollars were spent on this project, the last thing the government should be doing is giving the impression that it is prepared to revisit or entertain further state involvement,” he said.
For Taylor, the issue is therefore not whether Christians can have a National Cathedral, but who should pay for it.
“The government has more pressing priorities, and the Cathedral is certainly not one of them,” he said.
