Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a member of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, has refuted the National Cathedral of Ghana's Secretariat's allegation that the project is state-owned.
On Monday, June 20, the North Tongu MP claimed that documents in his hands demonstrate that the project is a private firm in a Facebook post.
His claim follows the Secretariat's clarification that the National Cathedral is a state monument on Friday, June 17.
Mr. Ablakwa also included a document that purports to show the National Cathedral has been registered as a private corporation.
"Another alarming untruth we discovered is that, despite the fact that the National Cathedral of Ghana is described as a "state-owned corporation" in the June 17 news release, "The National Cathedral of Ghana is registered as PRIVATE," he stated on his Facebook wall, despite the fact that it is a "public and not a private" organization.
The MP further stated that two members of the Board of Trustees had been replaced with two other clergymen, despite the fact that the National Cathedral's Secretariat confirmed they had been registered as members.
Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, Presiding Bishop of the Lighthouse Group of Churches, and Rev. Prof. Cephas Omenyo, Former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, he claimed were not listed as directors on the incorporation date of July 18, 2019.
"The two respected priests have been plainly left out at all material occasions, and Samuel Antwi and Kingsley Ofosu Ntiamoah have been replaced."
"I'm curious if Bishop Dag Heward-Mills and Rev. Prof. Cephas Omenyo are aware that their names have been blatantly deleted off the list of distinguished registered directors, despite public misrepresentations?" Ablakwa interrogated him.
"For the avoidance of doubt, the National Cathedral is a National Monument and hence a public, not a private initiative," according to a seven-page statement released by the National Cathedral Secretariat on June 17.
"The National Cathedral of Ghana is a state-owned business limited by guarantee that was established on July 18, 2019 under the Companies Act, 1963 (Act 179)."
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of Ghana's National Cathedral has announced that the holy structure's development has come to a halt.
The current quo, according to Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah, is due to "the vagaries of fundraising."
He did, however, promise that building will resume shortly in a statement released on Friday.
Work on the project has apparently been stopped for the previous three months, according to JoyNews inspections at the site on Monday, June 13.
According to JoyNews sources, no construction is presently being done at the site, but foundation work is still being done.