The Executive Director for the National Cathedral project, Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah has rendered an unqualified apology to the Muslim community for his claims that the state facilitated the construction of a National Mosque located at Kanda, Accra.
Dr. Opoku-Mensah said he regrets the pain his comments might have caused the Muslim community.
“I retract and apologise for the use of ‘state facilitation’ in my reponse and deeply regret the pain it might have caused the COMOG and the Muslim Umma in Ghana,” he said in a press release on Monday, June 13.
This follows a press release issued by the Coalition of Muslims Organisations, Ghana (COMOG) challenging the claims.
Dr. Opoku-Mensah had made the statrment on Sunday, June 12, 2022, when he appeared on GTV’s Talking Point programme saying that, “the government of Ghana spent state resources in the construction of the National Mosque.”
Dr Opoku-Mensah stressed further that he has been informed that the state also did not facilitate the construction as he had previously said.
He has therefore apologized for the claim, saying that “What I had been informed was ‘facilitation’ – but not ‘state resources’ – did not actually happen.
“I retract, and apologize, for the use of ‘state facilitation’ in my response, and deeply regret the pain it might have caused the COMOG and the Muslim Umma in Ghana,” the CEO said.
He however implored members of the Ghanaian public to desist from equalizing “discussions on the National Cathedral and the National Mosque as they are separate projects.”
The CEO of the National Cathedral apologies falls on the demand from the Coalition of Muslim Organisations, Ghana (COMOG) who had strongly refuted claims suggesting that the Government of Ghana spent state resources during the construction of the National Mosque.
In a statement on Monday, June 13, the Coalition categorically denied the claims by Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah.
Portions of the statement reads, “We, the Coalition of Muslim Organisations, Ghana (COMOG), on behalf of all Muslims 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 the statement in an attempt to justify the Thompson Road sum of over GHC25million of state resources as seed money for the construction of the most controversial project in Ghana today, the National Cathedral.
“As a Muslim Organization 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.”
By Vincent Kubi