National Cathedral: How Court of Appeal Judge resigned over the demolition of his residence

The National Cathedral is in fulfilment of a pledge by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to God before winning the 2016 elections.

As a national monument, the Cathedral would house chapels and baptistery, 5,000 capacity seater main auditorium, expandable to 20,000 people for national events and celebrations.

Government properties housed on 14 acres of prime lands in Accra were pulled down in order to make way for the construction of the cathedral.

The buildings included residential accommodation for Court of Appeal justices. The judicial service was also paying for the construction of more of these accommodations and it had to be stopped and welcome bulldozes to demolition the building for the land to be used to build a ‘house for God’.

This decision by the government did not go down well with some of the occupants of the facility and through that, Justice Saeed Kweku Gyan, a Court of Appeal judge had to resign in protest.

This was disclosed by the North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

According to him a post on his Facebook timeline, the resignation has been a great loss to justice delivery in Ghana.

This is because, the Ghana Bar Association conferred a rare honour on Justice Saeed Kweku Gyan at its 2012/2013 Annual General Conference, celebrating him for his “uprightness and will to resist corruption in the discharge of his duties.”

Okudzeto Ablakwa noted that “other nations would have done everything in their power to protect and encourage a jewel-like Justice Saeed Kweku Gyan but here in Ghana he was hounded out and his incorruptible career on the bench literally ‘demolished’.

“When we reflect on the many physical demolishing that have been carried out to fulfil the President’s personal pledge, let us not forget the many careers, dreams and multitudes of jobs that have been equally demolished.”

“Even if we should be building a cathedral, was this the best available model?” he quizzed.

The National Cathedral project has in recent weeks dominated news headlines over some allegations that the government has provided seed money for the project despite earlier assurances that it was going to be financed by the Church.

North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa alleged that the Akufo-Addo-led administration has so far dolled out over GH₵190 million in funding for the construction of the National Cathedral.

His comment came after a recent report that the government has released an amount of GH₵25 million for the project.

In a post on his social media handle, Mr. Ablakwa said the government had earlier released an amount of over GH₵142 million bringing the cumulative funding for the project to GH₵199,832,603.00.

Again, he disclosed that one prominent member of the Board of Trustees and founder of ICGC, Dr. Mensa Otabil, has resigned over the various infractions surrounding the project.

Find below Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa’s full post.

When the Akufo-Addo government notified judges in 2018 that they will have to vacate their official bungalows as he was going to demolish them to pave way for the construction of his cathedral which he personally promised God, some of the judges were absolutely furious and fought back.

Unfortunately, the affected judges didn’t get the support they expected and had to capitulate. In protest, a distinguished and unblemished Appeal Court Judge, Justice Saeed Kweku Gyan resigned. His resignation has been a great loss to justice delivery in Ghana. This was a judge the Ghana Bar Association conferred a rare honour at its 2012/2013 Annual General Conference, celebrating him for his “uprightness and will to resist corruption in the discharge of his duties.”

Other nations would have done everything in their power to protect and encourage a jewel-like Justice Saeed Kweku Gyan but here in Ghana he was hounded out and his incorruptible career on the bench literally “demolished.”

When we reflect on the many physical demolishing that have been carried out to fulfil the President’s personal pledge, let us not forget the many careers, dreams and multitudes of jobs that have been equally demolished.

Even if we should be building a cathedral, was this the best available model?