General News of Thursday, 19 October 2023

Source: starrfm.com.gh

National Cathedral can’t win 2024 election for NPP – Theologian

President Akufo-Addo inspecting the design of Ghana's national cathedral President Akufo-Addo inspecting the design of Ghana's national cathedral

A theologian, Rev. John Avorgah has said the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) should not think that building a National Cathedral will give them victory in the 2024 general election.

Speaking on Starr Today with Joshua Kodjo Mensah on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, Rev Avorgah stated that Christians will not vote for a particular party because they have built a National Cathedral.

“So even if it is about the election, how is it going to benefit the bishops? But whether the Cathedral is built or the National is not built, if you have not done well, you’ve not done well. Christians will not vote for any government because they build a Cathedral, no".

“We have wised up and building a Cathedral for us will not affect the decision in 2024. That is the message that must be sent strongly to the Committee and the government,” he said.

The National Cathedral Secretariat has hit back strongly at Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams and Rev. Eastwood Anaba over reasons for their resignation from the board of trustees.

The two, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams and Rev. Eastwood Anaba announced their resignation in a letter to the president, dated October 12, 2023, over concerns that their call for an audit into the activities of the National Cathedral project, went unheeded since January 2023.

They noted that the deafening silence on the call for an audit runs contrary to their conscience and belief.

But in a sharp rebuttal, the secretariat has responded, describing the claim that no information whatsoever on the audit process was conveyed to them, as false.

In a statement signed by the Executive Director of the National Cathedral Project, Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah narrated that “following this, the engagement letter for Deloitte to officially begin the audit was drafted and signed by Deloitte on March 27, 2023, and set up on their system on May 17, 2023. The expectation was that the first part of the audit was to be completed in July 2023. The audit process, so far, can be confirmed with the auditors, Deloitte.”

“The Board was constantly updated on the process through the Chairman and the Steering Committee, as well as the Executive Director’s reports to the meetings of the Board.”

“Although Archbishop Duncan Williams and Rev. Eastwood Anaba were not present at both the June 2023 and September 2023 meetings, they and all the other Board members who were not physically present at the meeting were sent copies of all the documents for the Board meeting, including the Executive Director’s report. The claim that they have received no information, whatsoever, on the audit process is therefore false.”