Minority Members of Parliament led by North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, decided to take a satirical approach by commissioning the unfinished National Cathedral project as a symbolic gesture to draw attention to the government’s alleged failure to complete the project.
The opposition MPs initially faced obstacles when trying to access the construction site where the controversial National Cathedral is located, as security personnel prevented them from making a statement at the site.
Initially scheduled for commissioning on March 6, as mentioned by former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in the 2021 budget statement presented in Parliament, the cathedral has faced criticism, especially from minority MPs who are unhappy with the project’s costs.
Despite being denied entry to the construction site, the minority MPs reached an agreement with security personnel to gather at the entrance for a press conference to express their dissatisfaction with the ongoing project and its expenses. The symbolic act of commissioning the incomplete National Cathedral highlighted their criticism of what they viewed as deficiencies in the government’s management of the project.
“When the act of parliament had to grind on him [Ofori-Atta], he had to come and beg. Your instructions are that we should not enter, we will not enter, we will stand at the entrance,” Sam George MP for Ningo-Prampram said,
They then cut a sod to commission the Cathedral on behalf of the president.
“We commission this expensive hole, on behalf of Dr Bawumia, President Akufo-Addo and Ken Ofori-Atta.”
