Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Dominic Ayine has urged President John Mahama to prioritise the completion of stalled Agenda 111 hospital projects rather than committing further public resources to the National Cathedral.

Dr Ayine, who is also the Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga East, said money already spent on the National Cathedral could have been used to complete some of the unfinished district hospitals across the country.

“It is better to complete Agenda 111 than to spend money on the National Cathedral,” he said.

He was speaking at a durbar in Zuarungu in the Bolgatanga East District on Thursday, 13 August 2026, during President Mahama’s visit to the Upper East Region for activities related to the government’s Free Primary Healthcare programme.

Dr Ayine raised the issue amid what he described as a resurgence in calls for the construction of the National Cathedral by “very eminent religious people”.

He said a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on expenditure on the cathedral had recently been presented to him.

“The money that was spent on the National Cathedral, from the report of the PwC that was presented to me just last Friday… you don’t build a house of God in the manner in which they went about it,” he said.

He argued that the priority should instead be completing critical health infrastructure, particularly projects under the former government’s Agenda 111 initiative that remain unfinished.

Dr Ayine said the uncompleted Agenda 111 hospital in Zuarungu had been included in the government’s programme for completing stalled health projects.

He said he had repeatedly raised the issue with the Minister of Health because of the importance of the facility to residents of Bolgatanga East.

“I have been on the neck of my colleague, the Health Minister, to ensure that it is completed,” he said.

According to Dr Ayine, he had also asked the Health Minister to provide a list of districts whose Agenda 111 projects had been selected for completion.

“When he asked his people, his IT people, to pull it up, there was Bolga East Zuarungu listed on it,” he said.

He expressed satisfaction that the Zuarungu project had been included in the completion programme.

Dr Ayine also highlighted infrastructure challenges at the Bolgatanga East Health Centre, particularly its limited capacity to perform emergency Caesarean sections.

He said the facility’s theatre was too small to accommodate multiple emergency cases simultaneously.

“If two or three pregnant women come here and there’s a need for us to do a C-section, there’s no way we are going to be able to handle all of them,” he said.

Patients requiring emergency surgery may therefore have to be referred to the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital, placing additional pressure on the regional facility.

Dr Ayine said the Health Minister had visited the health centre and promised to support the construction of a modern operating theatre.

The Attorney-General also commended President Mahama for introducing the Free Primary Healthcare programme, describing it as evidence of the government’s commitment to improving the welfare of citizens.

He said investment in healthcare infrastructure, alongside expanded access to primary healthcare, was essential to improving health outcomes.

The comments come as renewed public discussion over the National Cathedral has revived questions about the project’s expenditure and whether public resources should be committed to its completion while other critical infrastructure projects remain unfinished.