'National Cathedral will be our spiritual and cultural heritage'- Chieftancy Minister

Minister for Chieftancy and Religious Affairs, Samuel Kofi Ahiave Dzamesi has reiterated the need for the establishment of a National Cathedral which he believes will serve as the nation’s spiritual and cultural heritage.

President Akufo Addo informed Ghanaians about the proposed National Cathedral during Ghana’s 60th anniversary celebration. The president has subsequently pushed for the construction of the monument stating that, it will be an act of thanksgiving to God “for His blessings, favour, grace and mercy over our nation”.

The Chieftaincy Minister, Samuel Ahiave Dzamesi was speaking at a press briefing in Accra which sought to outline the initiatives and projects of the Ministry in ensuring national development.

The Minister added that, it will be necessary to build a National Cathedral for Christians since there is an already existing National mosque for Muslims in the country.

“It is important that as a nation we have for ourselves as a people a monument of spiritual significance that is also a point of our collective expression as a people,” he said.

The iconic infrastructure when established will serve other purposes aside being a place of worship for Christians. President Akufo Addo made mention at the fundraiser for the National Cathedral in Washington DC that, it will promote tourism in Ghana and therefore, called for support from all.

There are some people who are against the setting up of a National Cathedral. Apparently, houses occupied by 14 court of appeal judges in Accra had to be demolished in order to make way for the construction of the proposed cathedral. Concerns have also been raised regarding the huge sum of money that will be ejected into its construction.

During the press briefing, journalists inquired on whether government had any plans of also establishing a “National shrine” for traditional worshippers in the country. This was what the Minister had to say in response to the concerns raised by some section of Ghanaians.

“We have a National mosque and now we are in the process of building a national cathedral. Few times, some traditional groupings have approached me for a traditional shrine…since our constitution allows freedom of worship, we will study it very well and then we will come out to say how possible that can also be. We are not ruling that out a traditional shrine,” he explained.

With regards to regulating the activities of religious bodies in the country, Mr. Dzamesi explained that when the ‘National Policy on Religion’ is ready every church in the country will have to comply with the policies to ensure sanity in the country.

“We have to ensure that every church in his country falls under one of these well-established councils, if it doesn’t happen like that, we will look out for them… we will liaise with MMDCE so that we will be able to know all those churches who do not fall under any of these councils so we deal with them”.