National Cathedral: Meet 13-member Board of Trustees

One of the top priorities of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo‘s government is the building of a 5,000-seater Cathedral in fulfilment of a pledge made by the President to God before winning the 2016 elections.

According to the President, the construction of the National Cathedral is pivotal to the development of Ghana.

He explained that the country’s comparative performance against neighbouring countries is mainly by the grace of God.

Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Cathedral on Thursday, March 5, 2020, the President said, “Ghana has so far been spared civil war, famine and epidemic. We are certainly not better than the other nations in our neighbourhood who have been confronted with these challenges and I believe it is by the grace of God that we are being sustained. It will be an act of thanksgiving to the Almighty for his blessing, favour, grace and mercy on our nation.

“71 percent of the Ghanaian people adhere to the Christian religion, grouped under the various persuasion of the Christian faith. The Supreme Court of the Republic in unanimously rejecting recently the challenge of the constitutional quality of the Cathedral project laid particular emphasis on this.”

Many have criticized the President for his decision to build a National Cathedral in the face of numerous challenges facing the country.

Some persons even went to the Supreme Court to challenge the government’s decision to champion the project and they were unsuccessful.

The interdenominational Christian Cathedral, when completed, will have a 5,000 seating capacity with chapels, a baptistery, a music school, an art gallery and a Bible museum.

The monument designed by renowned architect, Sir David Adjaye, OBE, is expected to be put up within the next five years.

Construction work began on March 6, 2020.

But who are the Board of Trustee of Ghana’s National Cathedral?

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on March 16 appointed a 13-Member Board of Trustees to spearhead Ghana’s National Cathedral.

At their inauguration at the Jubilee House, the President said the 13-member Board of Trustees will be in charge of the National Cathedral when it is completed.

“It is an extremely solemn occasion for me because this is something that I have thought about sometimes [and] I am hoping that if God is kind to me this will see the light of the day while I am a tenant,” the President Akufo-Addo said.

The members are:

1. Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah, Chairman of the Church of Pentecost – Chairperson

2. Archbishop Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop, Cape Coast – Vice Chairman

3. Most Rev. Bishop Justice Ofei Akrofi, Anglican Archbishop Emeritus – Member

4. Rt. Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey, former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church – Member

5. Most Rev T. K. Awotwi Pratt, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church – Member

6. Rev Prof Cephas Omenyo, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church – Member

7. Pastor Mensa Otabil, General Overseer of International Central Gospel Church – Member

8. Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, Presiding Archbishop and General Overseer of Action Chapel International – Member

9. Rev Dr Joyce Aryee, Executive Director, Salt and Light Ministries – Member

10. Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, Presiding Bishop, Lighthouse Group of Churches – Member

11. Rev Eastwood Anaba, Founder and President of Eastwood Anaba Ministries – Member

12. Rev Victor Kusi-Boateng, Founder of Power Chapel Worldwide – Member/Secretary

13. Rev Dr Frimpong Manso, General Superintendent, Assemblies of God – Member

At the National Cathedral Secretariat, there is an appointed Executive Director known as Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah with two (2) representatives of the United States (UN).