The National Cathedral, the religious monument that was intended to be a catalyst for national and regional cohesion, has come under several criticisms since its start, especially at a time when the country is facing its worst economic crisis in decades.

The most outstanding of it all is the controversy, accusations of monetary embezzlement and lack of transparency in the implementation of the project.

In response to this, Executive Director for the National Cathedral Secretariat, Dr. Paul Opoku Mensah,on November 23, 2023, during a press conference where he spoke on fund raising and accountability of the National Cathedral, refuted all claims of criminality and claims of the trustee shying away from all forms of auditing due to potential corruption incidents.

Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has been investigating the project, according to the executive director, an exercise in which they have fully cooperated since its start in January 2023.

“So the notion that we are running away from accountability is simply false.In fact, since January, CHRAJ has been involved in detailed investigations and we've been cooperating”, he said.

Dr Paul insists that the finances of the Cathedral project are currently being audited  by two prominent firms, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and Deloitte.

“At the moment, there are two ongoing audits that seem to look into issues of accountability, namely

“An investigation by CHRAJ into issues of conflict of interest and procurement and a financial audit by deloitte

“Where the last information I saw was a questionnaire to the contractors about how they came to be selected. So everything is being detailed,” he stated.

“So there's a detailed audit, Deloitte extensive information; in fact, the last info they wanted was anybody who has contributed to the National Cathedral. They wanted details to be sure that there's not been any fishy, he added.

Given all the details of the auditing the project has been subjected to, Dr Paul mentioned that “there is no criminality in this project” as his outfit has executed the project with integrity and transparency.

“There is the idea that a project of this nature wouldn't want to be held accountable; I can't understand or cannot fathom it but with this audit notwithstanding , I want to state that there is no criminality in this project.

“We have implemented the project with integrity and are accountable for all the funds (sic)  from the state to the National Cathedral project”.