Dear President Mahama,
Please, did you promise God that you will build a National Cathedral for Him, should you be elected again as President? Are you the Son of Mr Akufo Addo, like Solomon, the son of David who built a temple for God when his father wasn’t permitted to do so? Is the construction of a National Cathedral a priority concern for national development at this time that many have been impoverished because of greed, loot and unprecedented bad governance by your predecessor?
If your answers to the above are a NO, then please cover that expensive hole, using the end of service benefits of Mr Akufo Addo to defray part of the cost and let people culpable be charged for causing financial loss to the state. Your speech at a ceremony held at UPSA over the weekend, is stoking some debate but there’s no need to stoke any national debate on whether to continue that project or not.
Sir, I respectfully remind you that the overwhelming mandate of the people given to you, necessarily took cognizance of the uselessness of such an unprioritized project that was initiated as a result of Mr Akufo Addo’s very private talks with his maker, at a time when you and I and the rest of Ghanaians were not there. It must be remembered that the one who made the promise said he told God he wasn’t going to use our money to do so, but ended up going contrary to this in a very deceitful manner.
Mr President, you were not elected to fulfill Mr Akufo Addo’s private promise to his maker. You didn’t make that promise and you are not the son of Mr Akufo Addo. God hasn’t told you to continue that project. If He tells you, we will hear. So, let the idea of whether to continue the project, relocate it, or look for funding elsewhere for it, never come up for discussion. If there is money to be sourced elsewhere, let it be sourced for projects that addresses the immediate needs of the Ghanaian people and justifies the overwhelming confidence they have reposed in you.
The expectations are high and there’s no time to waste. So, for starters, kindly do the restructuring of the free SHS programme, now that Heads of Assisted Schools are able to speak up freely without fear of being sacked or transferred. Also, let all looters of state money, lands, property etc be dealt with swiftly, and in accordance of law. Beyond your letter and instructions to the Lands Commission to halt all sale of state lands and provide you with a report of the state of affairs on state lands, please let all disrespectful officials at lands commission who are flouting orders given them; disrespectful bulldozer operators who are still demolishing state buildings; and all stubborn building contractors who are building on looted state lands nocturnally, be dealt with ruthlessly according to law, to deter future disrespect of the power and authority of your Presidency. Then let all other things follow in accordance with how urgent they are.
I conclude by respectfully urging you once again not to entertain any idea of a national cathedral for Ghana for now. I am a supporter of the Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in Chapter Six of the 1992 Constitution, which inter alia, enjoins successor regimes to continue developmental projects initiated by predecessors. But I have engaged some of the members whose work and recommendations led to the drafting of the 1992 Constitution, and I can say without equivocation that, their ideas that birthed Chapter Six of our Constitution never included the private promises of presidential aspirants to their maker. So, sir, your only thinking about the National Cathedral, should be how to cover that expensive hole, using Mr Akufo Addo’s end of service entitlements to settle part of the bill, and how to bring to book all those culpable of causing financial loss to the state.
I thank you and I wish you well as you govern to leave a positive legacy for Ghanaians and for yourself. God bless.
It is Me
Yaw Gyampo
A31, Prabiw
PAV Ansah Street
Saltpond
&
Suro Nipa House
Behind Old Post Office
Larteh-Akuapim
