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Ghana’s government is investigating controversial plans to build a $400m (£330m) national cathedral, new President John Mahama has said.
Pressure is mounting on the authorities to abandon the project, which has divided opinion in the country, which is experiencing an economic crisis.
Former President Nana Akufa-Addo, whose party was ousted in the December election, has vowed to build a cathedral after crediting God with his party’s 2016 success.
The Akufo-Addo government has said the cathedral will be privately funded, but so far 58 million taxpayer dollars have been spent on the project.
There is little to show for this amount, except for a huge crater on a piece of valuable land in central Accra that used to house government buildings, judges’ houses and financial firms.
Ghana is a deeply religious country, where 70% of the population are Christians.
The National Cathedral of Ghana was conceived as a holy place for all Christians, where national religious services could take place. It is also planned to house a museum of the Bible and a national conference center.
At the thanksgiving service on Sunday, Mahama said: “The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has ordered the government to audit the project and investigate any misuse of public funds. We will soon launch such an investigation into the project.”
However, he did not rule out the completion of the cathedral.
“We can come up with a more reasonable number to implement such a project and together we can raise financing for it,” he said.
“Such a review of this project may even involve changing the current location that has been chosen for the project. The project must be implemented at a reasonable cost, in the current conditions Ghana is going through, it does not make sense to implement the project at a whopping $400 million.”
New finance minister Kasiel Ato Forsson suggested on Monday that public money would no longer be used for the project, telling a parliamentary committee that the government “will work to reduce wasteful spending, and the national cathedral project is one of them.”
Ghana has been hit by its worst economic crisis in a generation and last year received a $3bn (£2.5bn) bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The rate of increase in commodity prices, or inflation, has improved significantly since the bailout, but remains high at 23.8%.
Work on the cathedral stopped after contractors wrote to the government saying they did not want to continue due to lack of payment.
Before the December elections, Mahama hinted that if he became president, he would investigate the project and decide whether to proceed with it or not.
But while his NDC party was in opposition, its faction in parliament called on Akufo-Addo to “terminate the project contract” altogether.
NDC lawmaker Kwabena Mintah Akandah asked: “Where is the wisdom in building a cathedral when the country has more pressing needs in sectors like health and education?
“I don’t think a reasonable person expects John Mahama to build a cathedral. People are dying of cholera and other diseases, why focus on the cathedral?”
The building has also raised concerns among senior clergy involved in the project.
Five members of the cathedral’s board of trustees have resigned amid calls for the government to halt the project and carry out an audit.
