The National Cathedral Project Secretariat has challenged the reasoning behind Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams and Rev. Eastwood Anaba’s recent resignations from the Board of Trustees overseeing the National Cathedral’s construction.

The clergymen had cited the lack of a “needed audit” of the public funds contributed to the project as their reason for resigning.

Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah, the Executive Director of the National Cathedral Secretariat, in a release dated October 18, 2023, contested the basis for their resignation, asserting that their grounds for departure are flawed.

On October 12, 2023, Archbishop Duncan-Williams and Rev. Anaba, in a joint resignation letter, expressed their disappointment at the government’s failure to appoint an independent accounting firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of the funds contributed to the National Cathedral.

Dr. Opoku-Mensah rebutted their claims by stating that an audit had already begun. He mentioned that Deloitte had been engaged in March to commence the audit, with the expectation of completing it by July 2023.

The Executive Director also indicated that the Board had been kept informed about the audit process through various channels.

He pointed to the June 5, 2023, meeting where he updated the Board on the audit’s progress and the September 27 meeting where he reported that the audit, despite some delays, was expected to be completed soon, enabling fundraising efforts to resume.

In light of this information, the Secretariat deemed it false for Archbishop Duncan-Williams and Rev. Eastwood Anaba to attribute their resignations to a lack of information or action regarding the audit.