Former President John Dramani Mahama, the 2024 flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has expressed strong disapproval of the allocation of $450 million for the National Cathedral project.During a gathering with religious leaders in Wa as part of the "Building Ghana Tour," Mahama criticised the prioritisation of the cathedral over pressing challenges in the education sector.

Mahama questioned the use of public funds for the cathedral, emphasising that President Nana Akufo-Addo's personal commitment to God should be funded by individuals who share the project's vision."The President said that he made a pledge to God that if he won the election he would build a Cathedral for him. So it is his personal pledge and if he wants to build it, he must gather people who support that conviction to build that and we were told that public funds were not going to be used for the Cathedral,” former president John Dramani Mahama stated.He highlighted the contradiction between the government's promise not to use public funds for the cathedral and the revelation that public taxes were being utilised."But eventually, we found that the Minister of Finance was releasing public taxes. We can't use public funds including the funds of people of other denominations to build a Cathedral for Christians alone", he added.

"So far, 58 million dollars of public funds have been spent just to dig a deep hole and you have to ask yourself is it justified in this day and age when children don't have desks in schools when children do not have textbooks?"

The former President, appalled by the $58 million spent on digging a hole for the cathedral, pointed out the lack of desks and textbooks in schools.He argued that redirecting the funds toward education, given the government's substantial expenses on consultancy services for the cathedral, would be a more judicious use of resources.

Mahama concluded, "For five years, we have not provided our basic schools with textbooks even though we have come out with a new curriculum because we say there is no money, and you say we should use 450 million dollars to build a Cathedral, even God will be angry with us."