'Our National Cathedral won't attract anyone to visit; Cathedrals in US, UK have history behind them' — Murtala Mohammed

The Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed has said the construction of the National Cathedral will not attract any tourists to visit Ghana.

According to him, Christians will still want to travel to Jerusalem and Muslims will continue to travel to Mecca.

Speaking on Joy News’ “the AM Show” he noted that, even with the magnificent National Mosque situated in Accra, not even Muslims in the sub-region travel to Ghana to tour the facility.

He added that the Cathedrals in the United Kingdom and the United States of America that government keep referring to all have symbolic history backing them to pull tourists.

“If we have a Cathedral here it will not attract anybody. Christians will go to Jerusalem just like Muslims will go to Mecca. We have an outstanding Mosque built here. How many Muslims even within our sub-region will come here? They won’t come. And I was happy you made reference to the fact that those cathedrals he is talking about, they have history behind them. The core, the foundation of Christianity, to a very large extent how Christianity spread globally anchored on some of these Cathedrals,” he told the host.

He further added that no one was against the building of a National Cathedral however; they were against the state funding it at a time when the nation is in crisis and more so when the Cathedral is one man’s promise to his creator.

He indicated that government have resorted to blaming the NDC and playing the propaganda card when it is being bashed.

“In the first place, nobody is against the building of a Cathedral, nobody. We are against the building of a Cathedral with state resources at a time when we are struggling. How could a person’s personal pledge he made with his creator become a burden on the people of this country? It is not only NDC that is the only group of people who are against it. It is not an NDC thing. One thing I have realized is that anytime they want to find a leeway to escape from the mess they have created they use NDC and they use propaganda. The NDC is just like any other person who is against it,” he emphasised.