Spokesperson for the Bawumia campaign, Miracles Aboagye says the government should have paused the controversial National Cathedral project.

He suggested that the project's controversy played a role in the party's loss in the 2024 general election, referring to the public backlash as a "big lesson" for the NPP.

In an interview on JoyNews' Newsfile on Saturday, Mr Aboagye acknowledged the strong convictions that many leaders have about the project but emphasised the importance of listening to public opinion.

"There is this issue about the National Cathedral. You may be strongly convinced about it, but if the people have punished you, in the future, you learn from it and realise that if you are doing the thing for the people and they say they don't want it, maybe you do a national address and say, ‘I’ve been trying to do this thing and the feedback I’m getting is that you don’t want it," he said.

Mr Aboagye’s remarks come as the National Cathedral project continues to stir debate across the country. While supporters argue that it represents a monumental religious and cultural symbol, critics have raised concerns over the allocation of funds and the prioritisation of the project amidst other national needs.

Mr Aboagye also attributed the failure and the issues surrounding the project to poor communication from the government.

According to him, things might not have gone wrong if the government had been transparent from the start about using state funds for the project.

“Communication around such things is very important. I’m sure that what the government, or the Finance Minister who I heard repeatedly promoting this project, should have communicated from the beginning is that, even though funds will be raised from private individuals and corporate organizations, we need to start. We need to demolish and prepare the site, and for that reason, the government will provide some seed money. But that is not going to be the funding to actually execute the project. If we had communicated this properly, we wouldn’t be where we are now,” he explained.

He added, “I don’t think the communication was handled correctly, and when that happens, you allow your detractors to take advantage and lead the conversation.”

The building of the Cathedral was in fulfilment of a supposed promise President Akufo-Addo claimed to have made to God before winning the 2016 elections.

• Read also: National Cathedral: CHRAJ recommends investigation, contract cancellation, possible prosecution

In 2019, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, stated that the construction of the National Cathedral was estimated to cost over $100 million.

Amid the controversies surrounding the development, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), after investigating the case, recommended that the Auditor General conduct a forensic audit of the project to determine what went wrong and possibly prosecute those found to have committed any wrongdoing.