The former National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddy Blay, says the cost of the National Cathedral did not have a major impact on Ghana’s economy.
Blay, in an interview with Serwaa Amihere, said the $56m bill that taxpayers footed to aid the construction of the edifice is not a major expense that could cripple Ghana’s economy.
Blay opined that he supported the project out of a belief that establishing such a tourist attraction would bring more revenue to Ghana in the long term than what taxpayers spent on it.
He said he has seen similar projects in other countries, and they are major sources of tourist revenue, something Ghana could have benefitted from if the project had been implemented properly.
The NPP politician passed his comments while reacting to Vice President Dr Bawumia listing the reasons for the NPP’s loss in the 2024 elections and adding the National Cathedral to it.
According to Blay, listing the Cathedral as a reason for the party’s loss is ‘petty’. “So far as I’m concerned, it’s petty. Maybe you will find the use of it later on. Indeed, I, for one, over the National Cathedral, supported it. I thought it was good,” Blay said.
Blay continued, “I’ve travelled around a few other countries and seen that they have national cathedrals and mosque. In the long run…it brings people united… It is…a national asset where it may end up even attracting more money than the money used for it.”
He also knocked the penchant of the NPP’s political opponents to attack the cost of the project, insisting $56m is nothing that can bother Ghana’s economy.
Freddy Blay added that such projects are never seen as useful when being constructed. He said the NDC similarly reviled the construction of the Jubilee House under President John Agyekum Kuffuor but now regularly use it as the seat of government when in power.
