A former General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Dr Kwabena Opuni Frimpong, has rallied the Christian community in the country to remain united in the face of resignations that have hit the National Cathedral project.
He further admonished the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral to take issues of accountability around the project seriously in order to elicit the support of the public.
“The National Cathedral should not divide the Ghanaian Christian front. It should not push us to a point where church leaders cannot meet, smile and eat together. We still need a united Christian front in Ghana,” Dr Frimpong said, cautioning that commentaries around the resignations should not cause any disaffection.
Resignations
Rev. Dr Frimpong, who was commenting on the resignations that recently hit the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral in an interview with the Daily Graphic, pleaded that “the church in Ghana must stay united”.
He said “this storm will be over. The National Cathedral challenge will be over, but the church must be united”.
A prototype of the National Cathedral
Touching on commentaries on the resignations so far, Rev. Dr Frimpong cautioned that “we must be careful with the comments and reactions that follow the resignations on the Board of Trustees.”
“Let’s be very careful the way we react.
At least, if for nothing at all, they deserve dignity, honour and respect,” he said of the high-profile personalities who had since left the board.
He said the intention was to build the cathedral to unite Christians and appealed that in spite of the resignations and how they had featured in the public domain, “Christians in Ghana must remain united”.
Rev. Dr Frimpong said all church leaders in the country must be acknowledged and given due recognition, “whether we are able to construct this National Cathedral or not”.
Transcending regimes
The respected clergyman, who said he was looking forward to the inauguration of the National Cathedral one day “to the glory of the Lord”, stressed that even if it never happened under this current government, since it remained a national cathedral, its construction must transcend a particular regime.
“As for this cathedral, I pray and hope that one day, we will come together and see its dedication to the glory of God.
“If not this regime and the next and the next, the most important thing is that one day, we must have a National Cathedral that gives glory to God, not necessarily any particular individual or particular regime,” he said.
While acknowledging the efforts of the North Tongu Member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, on issues of accountability surrounding the cathedral project, Rev. Dr Frimpong said the board should tell the public what was really happening.
“It is not enough sometimes for the board to just come out to say (that) what the MP was saying was not true, but there are real issues that need clarification,” he said.
He admitted that even though some aspect of the cathedral project was in court, the Board of Trustees needed to set the record straight, and that “there are things that the board can also help the Ghanaian public to know”.
Rev. Dr Frimpong said while waiting for the outcome of the court case, he expected that the board would get some investigations done.