National Cathedral now a state-owned company – Executive Director

Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah, Executive Director, National Cathedral of Ghana, has disclosed that the National Cathedral, which was a pledge by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, prior to winning the 2016 elections, is now a state-owned company.

According to him, the project has now been incorporated under Ghana’s Companies Act, 1963 (Act 179). It was done on Thursday, July 18, 2019.

He explained in a statement on Friday, June 16, 2022, that the project has moved from a private pledge of the President to become a national or public monument owned by the state.

Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah explained in the statement that, “in his first official announcement on the project on March 6, 2017, the President underscored the nature of the project as a national cathedral for interdenominational worship services for the nation.

“Subsequent elaborations led to three main reasons as the rationale for the project, namely i) gesture of thanksgiving ii) symbol of the Christian presence and contributions to the nation, and iii) a personal pledge to God. Of these three reasons, the personal pledge came to be associated with the Cathedral as a “private” project that needed to be developed without state support.”

He continued: “For the avoidance of doubt, the National Cathedral is a National Monument, and thus public, not private, project. Legally, the National Cathedral of Ghana is a state-owned company limited by guarantee and was incorporated under the Companies Act, 1963 (Act 179) on July 18, 2019.

“We hope this brings to a closure the seemingly vexatious issue of whether the National Cathedral is a private or public initiative. The National Cathedral is a National Monument and Asset, and not a Private project. It is, however, being developed in partnership between the state and the church.”

About the National Cathedral

The National Cathedral is one of the top priorities of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo‘s government is the building of a 5,000-seater Cathedral in fulfilment of a pledge made by the President to God before winning the 2016 elections.

According to the President, the construction of the National Cathedral is pivotal to the development of Ghana.

He explained that the country’s comparative performance against neighbouring countries is mainly by the grace of God.

Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Cathedral on Thursday, March 5, 2020, the President said, “Ghana has so far been spared civil war, famine and epidemic. We are certainly not better than the other nations in our neighbourhood who have been confronted with these challenges and I believe it is by the grace of God that we are being sustained. It will be an act of thanksgiving to the Almighty for his blessing, favour, grace and mercy on our nation.

“71 percent of the Ghanaian people adhere to the Christian religion, grouped under the various persuasion of the Christian faith. The Supreme Court of the Republic in unanimously rejecting recently the challenge of the constitutional quality of the Cathedral project laid particular emphasis on this.”