{"id":22971,"date":"2025-05-03T08:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T08:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/ghana-wanted-a-cathedral-it-got-an-expensive-hole-instead\/"},"modified":"2025-05-03T08:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T08:48:07","slug":"ghana-wanted-a-cathedral-it-got-an-expensive-hole-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/ghana-wanted-a-cathedral-it-got-an-expensive-hole-instead\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghana Wanted a Cathedral. It Got an \u2018Expensive Hole\u2019 Instead."},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The walls surrounding Ghana\u2019s national cathedral are aging plywood. Its spires are yellow construction cranes, which have not moved in years. It frequently reverberates with singing \u2014 the singing of a choir of frogs that moves in whenever the cathedral\u2019s half-finished foundations fill with rainwater.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ghana\u2019s former president, Nana Akufo-Addo, spent around $58 million of public money on the $400 million cathedral project \u2014 a huge sum in this debt-saddled West African country. The new finance minister said in March that Ghana\u2019s economy was in \u201csevere distress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The cathedral was designed by the celebrity architect David Adjaye. But beyond the blueprints, there is very little to show for the money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey have only dug a hole \u2014 a big hole,\u201d Praise Chinedu, a student and a Pentecostal Christian, said last month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A well-thumbed Bible tucked under his arm, he was emerging from a morning service at Pure Fire Miracles Ministries onto a street humming with churchgoers, ice cream vendors and clamoring children. His brother John, who had been buying anointing oil, sidled up. \u201cGod is not going to be happy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Across Accra, Ghana\u2019s coastal capital, citizens joke that the hole is the biggest and most expensive in the world. A valuable stretch of land surrounded by museums, bank headquarters and some of Ghana\u2019s ritziest hotels was cleared of government buildings for the church. That land is now thick with vegetation and bird life, unvisited except by scrap metal thieves and, occasionally in the rainy season, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/?v=2225444587808754\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">swimmers<\/a> staging stunts for social media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The unbuilt <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/14\/opinion\/sunday\/ghana-deserves-this-cathedral-dont-fight-it.html\" title=\"\">cathedral<\/a> became a symbol of economic mismanagement and a political battleground after Mr. Akufo-Addo said that its construction was to fulfill a personal pledge he had made to God.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now that Mr. Akufo-Addo has left office, the project appears permanently doomed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The cathedral is now a major target of the new government\u2019s anticorruption initiative, called Operation Recover All Loot. Last month, the government announced it would no longer fund the project and dissolved the agency responsible for managing it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Africa is home to the world\u2019s largest Christian population. Ghana, where faith is especially important to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/religion\/2022\/12\/21\/key-findings-from-the-global-religious-futures-project\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">young people<\/a>, has seen a recent boom in church building.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the national cathedral project never attracted the support Mr. Akufo-Addo anticipated. Instead, construction stalled at its foundations as Ghana suffered its worst economic crisis in a generation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">To many Ghanaians lately, a cathedral has seemed like the last thing the country needs, especially one with an estimated cost of $400 million.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The project began with much fanfare. In 2019, at a fund-raising dinner in Washington, a smiling Mr. Akufo-Addo cut into a large gray, square confection \u2014 the planned cathedral <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/npp-usa.org\/fundraising-event-for-the-construction-of-the-national-cathedral-of-ghana-held-in-washington-dc\/#jp-carousel-2960\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">rendered in cake<\/a>. With a 5,000-seat auditorium and a concave roof referencing the curve of Asante royal stools, it was intended to be much more than just a cathedral. It was to be a national monument, similar to the Washington National Cathedral or London\u2019s Westminster Abbey. A place where the solemn ceremonies of state \u2014 like presidents\u2019 funerals and royal weddings \u2014 would take place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Akufo-Addo, who was born into a Presbyterian family but became an Anglican as a young man, told the group gathered in Washington that the interdenominational cathedral would be a unifier for Ghanaian Christians, who represent more than 70 percent of the population. It would also be an offering of thanks to God for sparing the country from the epidemics, civil wars and famines that had plagued its neighbors, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamissionun.org\/president-akufo-addo-calls-for-support-to-build-national-cathedral\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">But then he revealed<\/a> a third reason for its construction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI made a pledge to God that if I become the president \u2014 after two unsuccessful attempts \u2014 in the 2016 presidential elections, I will build a cathedral to the glory of God,\u201d he said, according to official readouts of the event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The statement turned out to be a gift to Mr. Akufo-Addo\u2019s opponents, who argued that the president should not be allowed to use public money as part of a personal bargain he made with God \u2014 let alone $58 million of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Paul Opoku-Mensah, the executive director of the agency overseeing the project, said that demonizing the cathedral quickly became \u201ca political strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In March 2024, one member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, led a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LijE1pAecVk&amp;ab_channel=GHOneTV\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">march<\/a> to the construction site, cutting a red ribbon at its gate to poke fun at the president for commissioning what was still a giant hole.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are demanding that the contracts must be immediately terminated to avoid further financial loss to the state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If using the cathedral to target the president was a political strategy, it worked. John Mahama, a former president who promised to create jobs and fix the economy, pulled off a dramatic <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/08\/world\/africa\/ghana-presidential-election.html\" title=\"\">comeback<\/a> in December\u2019s election. He made Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa his foreign minister.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Corruption accusations often take center stage in Ghanaian elections, and the large sums involved in the national cathedral project convinced many Ghanaians that officials had been skimming off the top. A public ombudsman said procurement rules had been breached and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/chraj.gov.gh\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/National-Cathedral-Decision.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">recommended<\/a> a forensic audit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But in an interview by the big hole in early April, Mr. Opoku-Mensah said he had nothing to hide and had handed over all the accounts to the investigators.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He explained that the cathedral was not really intended as a church, but as a major monument that had needed state money to get started but would eventually become a profit-making magnet for visitors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a fundamental misunderstanding of the vision,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Akufo-Addo also seemed befuddled about the controversy. \u201cI find it difficult to see what is so problematic about it,\u201d he said in an interview in April in his book-lined home office surrounded by a lush garden. He mused aloud about whether people believed it \u201cwould be too big a tribute to my leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now that the country\u2019s leaders have changed, few Ghanaians admit to supporting the cathedral. Those who do say Mr. Akufo-Addo and others should foot the bill \u2014 but not taxpayers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt should be funded through donations,\u201d said Esi Darko, an architect, as she left church one recent afternoon in an Accra neighborhood known as Christian Village. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be imposed upon everyone because not all are Christians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There are also around five million Muslims in Ghana, a country of more than 35 million people, and, lately, a growing number of atheists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cDon\u2019t believe in God?\u201d reads a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/ffrf.org\/news\/releases\/first-ever-atheist-billboard-in-africa-unveiled-in-ghana-with-ffrf-support\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">billboard<\/a> in central Accra. \u201cYou are not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even prominent Christians have soured on the project. Arriving at the church he leads on a recent Sunday, one well-known pastor, Lawrence Tetteh, and his sister Lady Gifty Tetteh, a British Ghanaian barrister, ducked into Mr. Tetteh\u2019s office for an interview.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He embraced the cathedral project initially, he said. He thought Christians from different denominations would be brought together by it, just as Ghanaian Muslims are by the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghananationalmosque.com\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">national mosque<\/a>, built by Turkey in 2021. But when he saw so much state money being spent, Mr. Tetteh said, he stopped supporting the idea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-13\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are a developing nation,\u201d he said. \u201cAs much as it\u2019s nice to have an edifice, we also don\u2019t want a situation where our edifice will eat into the little the nation has to live on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Tetteh said that God would understand if the president explained that he could not make good on his cathedral promise. \u201cGod is not a hard taskmaster,\u201d she said. Perhaps, she suggested, the former president could build him a little prayer room instead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-14\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Francis Kokutse contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/03\/world\/africa\/ghana-cathedral-christian-corruption-hole.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The walls surrounding Ghana\u2019s national cathedral are aging plywood. Its spires are yellow construction cranes, which have not moved in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[6746,984,6747,6068,693,5915,2099,5322,479,6748],"class_list":["post-22971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-accra-ghana","tag-africa","tag-akufo-addo","tag-architecture","tag-christians-and-christianity","tag-churches-buildings","tag-corruption-institutional","tag-ghana","tag-monuments-and-memorials-structures","tag-nana"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ghana Wanted a Cathedral. It Got an \u2018Expensive Hole\u2019 Instead. - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/ghana-wanted-a-cathedral-it-got-an-expensive-hole-instead\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ghana Wanted a Cathedral. It Got an \u2018Expensive Hole\u2019 Instead. - World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The walls surrounding Ghana\u2019s national cathedral are aging plywood. 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