The US$100 million edifice which is expected to be completed in four years is not only expected to signify a physical embodiment of unity, harmony and spirituality; but also boost Ghana’s tourism potentials.

In a television interview Wednesday, the Secretary of Board of Trustees for the National Cathedral project, Rev Victor Kusi Boateng, said the structure will have a replica of the Garden of Gethsemane and the Wailing Wall in Israel.

He said the idea of the two significant places is to enable people who cannot afford travelling to those sights to have a feel of it in Ghana.

“And so, we are placing a foundation stone at where the altar will be laid. And to make it very significant, we flew the foundation stone from Israel from the wailing wall. We brought it in here and we are laying it here. The reason is, as much as we are building this to the glory of God, we also want to give it an economic dimension," he said in the Accra based Joy News interview.

“Israel because we want the very presence they enjoy to be enjoyed here. Israel because we want the situation whereby somebody is in Nigeria he wants to go to Israel, he doesn’t have $2000 he has $300, he still can come here and experience the presence of God right in this place,” he explained.

“We are doing something that is very interesting. We are building a garden that is like the garden of Gethsemane that is going to have the Wailing Wall and all that right here on this land. And we are going to bring every fruit and vegetable in the Bible in our garden so that people can come and see what they’ve read of and been taught of in their Sunday school,” he added.

Aside from that, Rev Boateng said, “there will be a designed restaurant that will feed people that want to taste the fruits and the vegetables and the kind of food that there is in Israel.”

“So there is a lot of interesting things that is going on here. A lot of people think that we are just building a church that people are coming to sing and pray. No, no, no…”

President Akufo-Addo’s pledge

Rev Boateng said the Board has received President Akufo-Addo’s GH¢100,000 pledge towards the construction of the proposed National Cathedral.

He also noted that the Board was still receiving funds and pledges from across the world.

“We’ve received the President’s money; and not just the President’s money, we’ve done fundraisings in Accra, Washington DC and Kumasi. A lot of people are giving the best that they can because the cathedral will surely be built,” he said.

As to how much the Board had raised so far, Rev Boateng said the amounts were still going through auditing processes.

“We’ve raised a couple of monies but because it has to go through the auditing processes before they come out to be well authenticated, I wouldn’t want to say how much but we are raising money and that is why we are able to start the project tomorrow.”

Background

On March 6, 2017, President Akufo-Addo set the ball rolling for the construction of a National Cathedral to be sited close to the State House in Accra.

He described the Cathedral as an inter-denominational worship project in thanksgiving gesture to God for the blessings God has bestowed on Ghana on the occasion of its 60th anniversary.

The architecture of the National Cathedral was designed by British-Ghanaian architect Sir David Adjaye, the founder and principal of Adjaye Associates.

The National Cathedral will house chapels and baptistery, 5000-seat in the main auditorium, expandable to 15,000 people for national events and celebrations.

It will also include among others, a grand central hall, a music school, and will house Africa’s first-ever Bible Museum and documentation centre.