The General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church of Ghana, Professor Yaw Frimpong-Manso, has waded into the contention encircling the building of the National Cathedral, asserting that naysayers who have no idea about its purpose will live to glorify it when completed.
Scolding the critics of the project, he described the initiative as a ‘model of religious tourism’ in Africa which will be very impactful and could not comprehend how some Christians had joined the fray of distorting the tenacity of the edifice, which when completed would be used for all religious and state conferences.
Prof Frimpong-Manso was speaking at the 30th Biennial General Council Meeting of the Assemblies of God Church held at the University of Cape Coast on Wednesday.
The one-week event which began on Monday, August 1, would be used to elect a new General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church in Ghana among others
At the event some prominent personalities were given meritorious awards for their dedicated services to the Church including; George Akuffo Dampare, the Inspector General of Police, Mrs Georgian Theodora Wood, former Chief Justice, Dr Kwabena Duffour, former Finance Minister, among others.
He maintained that the National Cathedral epitomized a historic project that would provide a sacred space and infrastructure for the formal religious activities of the nation.
Prof Frimpong-Manso said the Trustees of the facility had taken the bold vision of the President for a sacred national infrastructure, linking it to the path-breaking design of iconic Architect, Sir David Adjaye OBE.
“And organically anchoring these in world-class programs – including Africa’s first Museum of the Bible whose development is supervised by Cary Summers, the founding President of the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC.
“We have engaged the very best of Ghana with the very best in the world. The result of the integration of the vision, design, and programming is an iconic infrastructure that provides a sacred space for the nation, attracts pilgrims and tourists, and includes a built-in economic engine for financial sustainability,” Prof Frimpong-Manso assured.
On the criticism, he explained that the strong public disagreements over the construction of the national project and many other monuments had often generated heated public discourse.
He cited the construction of the Tema Motorway, the Akosombo Dam and the Jubilee House were heavily criticized as grandiose and over-ambitious projects for a new, young country.
According to him, critics referred to the prism of inadequate school infrastructure, under-equipped hospitals, bad road network and general poverty which could all have been improved one way or the other with all that cash for the project.
This according to him was mostly premised on the political divide one sits.
Prof Frimpong-Manso appealed to all churches in the country to support the mass mobilization strategy by encouraging their members to register for the 100-cedi club.
He said “with the integration of the Bible Museum and Biblical Gardens we want to appeal to leaders of the churches in the country not to forget this purpose of the National Cathedral Project, as we seek to answer some of the critical questions being asked.”
“Christians should focus on the mission of God, stand up to the challenge and not run away. We must not let the President has made a mistake by promising to put up a building to the glory of God.”
Touching on the economy, he said all the disapprovals on, called for a renewed focus on building and strengthening systems, alongside enhanced fiscal discipline, to ensure sustainable economic recovery after the latest, 17th IMF (International Monetary Fund) program.
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