Ghana’s Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has called on Israel and countries that are part of the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast Meeting (JPBM) movement, to help build a national cathedral to transform Ghana.
He made the call while addressing Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, last week, during their annual series of prayer breakfast meetings which is aimed at mobilizing the international community of Churches and government leaders “to align themselves in prayer with God’s purpose for Israel and Jerusalem”.
“President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has initiated the building of a National Cathedral that takes its inspiration from the Tabernacle, and is aimed at providing the infrastructure to focus the gaze of the Nation and Africa on the Almighty and therefore the peace of Jerusalem! Israel and the Nations of the JPBM should join us to transform Ghana, this first independent African Nation and the first to host a Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast meeting in Africa, to build the National Cathedral as a living monument to mobilize Africa to eternally, look East, and pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” the minister said.
He said Ghana, which is the first country in Africa to hold the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast in September 2018, is hoping to expand the event to become vibrant and a part of the global Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast Movement.
Ghana-Israel relations
He said Israel has had a good relationship with Ghana since Ghana’s pre-independence period and key results of such early cooperation were the setting up of Ghana’s Air Force, Ghana’s shipping line, “Black Star line” and the opportunity for Ghana’s famed poultry farmer, Rev Kwabena Darko to join Israel agricultural community.
“Part of the 70 years of Israel’s statehood includes a bold policy, initiated by the then Foreign Minister, and later Prime Minister, Golda Meir in the late 1950s, to support the nation building efforts of the newly independent African nations,” he said.
Ghana beyond aid
Ken Ofori-Atta said Israel is a shining example of building a state beyond aid as being championed by President Akufo-Addo.
“The President of Ghana, His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has recently made a bold declaration of a “Ghana Beyond Aid”; a vision of an assertive, confident nation that relies on its own resources, especially her people and their spirituality for its transformation and to create prosperity for all. If there is one country that both understands this, and has also demonstrated in 70 years that it is doable, it certainly is Israel.”
While lauding the organizers of the annual prayer meeting, he said Ghana was taking a similar decision in “doing God’s will, in Christ, and to put God, like all other faiths, at the center of our nation-building efforts,” by building a national cathedral which will mobilize Africa to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
