National Cathedral: CEO Apologises For Saying State Facilitated National Mosque

• The Executive Director/CEO of the National Cathedral project, Dr Paul Opoku-Mensah, has apologised for saying that the state supported the National Mosque construction
• He said although he had been informed that that was the case, he now knows the state did not provide any such help
• Dr Opoku-Mensah's comments follow a demand by the Coalition of the Muslim Organisations Ghana for a retraction and apology over the erroneous claim

CEO of the National Cathedral project Dr Paul Opoku-Mensah has apologised for saying the state supported the construction of the National Mosque.

Dr Opoku-Mensah said in a statement issued on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, that even though he did not say that the state spent resources in the construction of the National Mosque, he is sorry for saying the state “facilitated” the construction of the mosque.

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“…at no point in my GBC Talking Point discussion on Sunday, June 12, 2022, did I indicate that 'the government of Ghana spent state resources in the construction of the National Mosque'…what I had been informed was ‘facilitation’ – but not ‘state resources’ – did not actually happen.

I retract, and apologise, for the use of ‘state facilitation’ in my response, and deeply regret the pain it might have caused the [Coalition of Muslim Organisations Ghana] and the Muslim Umma in Ghana,” portions of Dr Opoku-Mensah’s statement clarified.

Islamic organisations accuse Dr Opoku-Mensah of lying

The retraction and apology follows a statement released by the Coalition of Muslim Organisations Ghana (COMOG) accusing the CEO of the National Cathedral project of peddling falsehood when he said the state contributed funds to put up the National Mosque.

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YEN.com.gh previously reported that COMOG President Hajj Abdel-Manan Abdel-Rahman had said in a release dated Monday, June 13, 2022, that Dr Paul Opoku-Mensah's claim about the construction of the National Mosque located at Kanda in Accra was unfortunate.

“He made this spurious statement on the GTV Talking Point program aired on the evening of Sunday the 12th June 2022. We the Coalition of Muslim Organisations Ghana, on behalf of all Muslim organisations in Ghana, wish to state unequivocally, and without any fear or favour that, not a single pesewa from the state by any political regime was contributed to the construction of the Kanda National Mosque.

“The CEO of the National Cathedral made this statement in an attempt to justify the sum of over GH¢25millions of state resources as seed money for the construction of the most controversial project in Ghana today, the National Cathedral.

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“As a Muslim Organisation with the mandate to protect the image and sanctity of Islam and the reputation of the Ummah in Ghana, we can't tolerate such a deliberate falsehood by a high profile appointee of Dr. Opoku-Mensah's stature when indeed, the facts do not support his claim," the statement stressed.

Source: YEN.com.gh