National Cathedral: Rev Joyce Aryee Tight-Lipped Over Bishop Dag Resignation
Rev Dr Joyce Aryee, a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral Ghana has refused to comment on the resignation of her fellow board member, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills from the board.
The founder of LightHouse Chapel International, Bishop Dag resigned in August 2022.
In a recently leaked letter addressed to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral, the Bishop assigned various reasons for his resignation including the costs, the design, the location, the fundraising, the mobilisation of the churches, and the role of the trustees.
The letter revealed his concerns had been communicated to the Board on several occasions but were ignored.
He is quoted to have said, “I have been a reachable and available trustee and attended every single meeting of trustees since the pandemic began, in person and by zoom, and the records will show that.
“If I say that I, as a trustee, do not know many of the financial and technical issues concerning the Cathedral, it means the discussions about the National Cathedral were held by some people outside the trustees’ meeting or perhaps in a forum that I was not present or invited to”.
He is also quoted to have decried, “the National Cathedral is said to be a Government of Ghana project, with the government taking financial decisions. Yet on another hand, at meetings, it is implied that the trustees have taken or participated in taking some decisions”.
In an interview on Nkwantananso Show with Opemsuo radio’s host, George Opoku Mensah, Dr Aryee who is the founder of Salt and Light Ministry refused to comment on the development which was first reported by Citi FM.
“I would want the Trustees to convene a meeting on this before I make any comment”, she said and confirmed she was privy to the development.
“He (Bishop Dag) has said he wasn’t the one who posted it”, she stated.
She furthered, referencing Genesis 50:20, “Joseph once told his brothers that you meant evil but God meant good. God will make whatever evil meant against this project good”.
The National Cathedral since its inception has been hit by a series of scandals and controversies from a section of Ghanaians over its funding, design, etc.
President Akufo-Addo cut sod for the construction of the Cathedral which will serve as a venue for formal state occasions of a religious nature such as Presidential Inaugural Services, State Funerals, and National Thanksgiving Services, amongst others in 2017.
Its website says it will include a 5,000 permanent-seat auditorium, Baptistery Chapel, Conference Center, Grand Ballroom and Restaurant, Music and Choir Areas, and National Crypt and Chapels.
In June last year Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa disclosed that the government released an amount of GH¢25 million as seed money for the construction of the National Cathedral in 2020.
This was after he had earlier disclosed that the government released an amount of GH¢32 million to Sir David Adjaye & Associates Limited in 2021.
In the interview, Dr Aryee stated that these payments were part of the agreement between the government and the Board of Trustees.
She noted that the Cathedral won’t be built with state funds as earlier promised by the President.
“We are not going to use the government’s funds to build the cathedral. What the government will give us won’t be adequate. That’s why the president at the onset said he will build it with the help of believers.
“The government decided to provide land, pay architects, develop a secretariat, and give seed money whereas we find means to generate money to put up the structure.”
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
