Abandon The Cathedral And Engage In More Pressing Needs Of The People

In Ghana, access to quality health care and education remains the greatest challenges our nation is embattled with over the decades. Both past and present governments attempt to defray the infrastructural deficits in education and health care remain an unsurmountable one. Against this background, it is arguable to state that any move or attempt to engage in profligate projects like Cathedral is not only a misplaced priority but also amounts to a blasphemy to God.

God, in his infinite wisdom, if he were to speak to man directly, would not prioritise a place of worship over systems that intend to save lives and keep a people well informed and be enlightened. This is an obvious fact that defies public debate! It appears when leadership lose guard in pursuing the public good they resort to using God's name to deceive the unsuspecting public into supporting their seemingly good acts of charity.

In this country, we are not oblivious of the numerous occasions where weak school structures are left unattended to, until they collapse to kill innocent kids who otherwise could have become the future leaders of this country one day. We are not also ignorant of the fact that there are so many villages if not communities in this country where labouring mothers pass on on daily basis because of the absence of basic health facilities like CHIPS Compounds which are well equipped with medical staff to attend to them. These lack of health facilities have made innocent mothers passed on merely because they could not be attended to at the time of need. For how long should we remain silent over these glaring developments while our mothers and wives wallow and die in pain as a result of failure on the part of our leaders to simply prioritise its needs?

I wish to, as a matter of national concern, send a wake up signal to our men of God, if indeed they are men of God, to reconsider the concerns of their congregants, and in deed, the suffering masses, who sometimes does not understand why they pay tithes or contribute their already meager incomes to churches. If we want a nation that will be anchored on the fear of God, and support the works of God, then we should be honest and candid enough to start investing in education and health care facilities and training that would help halt the needless avoidable deaths we often encounter in our communities and villages. No God would prioritise a place of worship over health centers!

A renowned British author, George Eliot, in her book, Silas Manner, said, and I quote, "there is no just God that governs the earth righteously, but God of lies, that bears witness against the innocent". If this quotation is to be considered irrelevant in modern day Ghana, then we have to abandon our current profligate priorities and prioritise the masse's interest first. For me, it appears some of our religious leaders have turned to bear witnesses and testimonies to the voices of our leaders to the total neglect of the innocent suffering masses who are struggling to make ends meet on daily basis. They are afraid to speak the truth!

Against this backdrop, I wish to use this opportunity to call on the Christian Council to please disband the call to support the Cathedral project because it does not inure to the benefit of the ordinary Ghanaian or the masses. So any project that does not inure to the immediate needs of the people is totally a misplaced priority and so should be disbanded in good faith!