Next president should dump National cathedral – NPP's Arthur Kennedy

Next president should dump Nat'l cathedral, invest in infrastructure – NPP's Arthur Kennedy

Gideon Nicholas Day

October 19, 2023 3:32 PM

A leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Kobina Arthur Kennedy, has advocated for the abandonment of the National Cathedral project, calling it a wasteful use of resources.

Next president should dump National cathedral – NPP's Arthur Kennedy

In an interview on Tv3's Ghana Tonight, Kennedy criticized the current state of the project, citing mismanagement and a lack of transparency.

His comments follow the resignation of two board members, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams and Reverend Eastwood Anaba, who raised concerns about the project's audit.

Dr. Arthur Kennedy asserted that the project, championed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is fundamentally flawed and recommends redirecting the estimated $400 million investment towards improving tourism infrastructure.

He advised the next president to be elected on December 7, 2024 to abandon this project.

“If the person is wise, he would abandon it because this is sand cost. That’s what my economist friends tell me and we should not throw good money after bad money. This money has been wasted and the more money we put in this, the more wastage we will get,” he said.

He added that if he had $400 million, which is the estimated investment in the project so far, “I will have to use that money to improve tourism infrastructure like build major hotels in the Cape Coast area, improve the Cape Coast-Accra road, rehabilitate places like Asebu Kwamankese where Asebu Amanfi and others have relics.”

The controversy surrounding the National Cathedral project includes allegations of misappropriation of funds, prompting calls for a thorough audit.

The project's secretariat responded, stating that international firm Deloitte has been engaged for an audit, disputing claims made by the resigning board members.

Gideon Nicholas Day