Reports that the state-allocated site for the National Cathedral project is being converted into a Cultural Convention Center have been rejected by the Board of Directors of the National Cathedral of Ghana.
Following an emergency board meeting on July 7, 2025, in response to mounting public alarm about allegations making the rounds in the media, this clarification was made.
The National Cathedral’s Executive Director, Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah, stressed in a statement released on Wednesday, July 9, that no government organization has formally announced a change in the project’s goal.
“The National Cathedral project has not been abandoned, nor has there been any official decision to convert the site into a Cultural Convention Centre,” the statement asserted. “The site remains legally held by the National Cathedral of Ghana, incorporated as a company limited by guarantee, with all architectural and design plans tailored specifically for its current religious and cultural vision.”
Dr. Opoku-Mensah reiterated that the Cathedral was intended to serve as a hallowed national venue for important religious official functions, including national Thanksgiving celebrations and state burials. The President’s recent proclamation of July 1 as Ghana’s official National Day of Prayer, he continued, emphasizes how crucial and urgent it is to finish the project.
Apart from its religious purpose, the Cathedral is intended to be a building of cultural and historical significance.
With the goal of fostering faith-based travel and patriotism, planned amenities include a Bible Museum, Biblical Garden, banquet hall, 350-seater restaurant, library, and conference center.
About 8% of the project had been finished, the Board said, before it was put on hold because of financial limitations and the politicization of the project, which made it difficult for private donors to raise money.
In response to financial transparency concerns, the Board referenced a Deloitte & Touche audit that certified that all public money allotted to the project were accounted for and that payments were made only on the basis of verified work and signed contracts.
Regarding the future, the Board disclosed that talks are under progress to implement a different strategy for finishing the project. In order to depoliticize the effort and gather the required resources, this tactic entails encouraging cooperation between the government, the church, and civil society.
“The Board remains fully committed to the vision of the National Cathedral,” Dr. Opoku-Mensah concluded, “not only as a national place of worship and unity for the Christian community, but also as an interfaith and cultural space for all Ghanaians.”
The public was urged by the Secretariat to ignore false information and to back continued efforts to create what it calls a “family house for all Christians” and a unifying national emblem.