The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, has announced plans to compile a comprehensive database of shrines and other recognised religious bodies across Ghana.
According to him, the Ministry intends to establish a multi-sectoral technical committee comprising experts and relevant stakeholders to develop clear guidelines for identifying and classifying shrines before any nationwide data collection begins.
The Minister made this revelation while responding to a question before Parliament’s Government Assurance Committee sitting last Thursday. He acknowledged the importance of documenting traditional places of worship but noted that defining what constitutes a shrine remains a major challenge.
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Ahmed Ibrahim explained that shrines take different forms across communities and cultures, making the exercise more complex than simply counting physical structures.
The intended committee, he said, would work to establish a common understanding of what should be recognised as a shrine, whether it is a permanent place of worship, a sacred object or another recognised traditional religious site.
The exercise was prompted by a request for accurate data on traditional places of worship similar to available information on churches and Islamic organisations by the Member of Parliament for Kwadaso, Prof. Kingsley Nyarko.
He noted that gathering data on churches also presents challenges because many religious organisations are registered under different legal entities rather than as churches, making it difficult to obtain comprehensive records from the Registrar-General’s Department.
To address this, the Ministry plans to engage recognised umbrella organisations, including the Christian Council of Ghana, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the leadership of the Muslim community, to obtain reliable figures on their respective institutions.
Ahmed Ibrahim said Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) would also be engaged to provide information on recognised traditional places of worship within their jurisdictions.
He indicated that conducting a nationwide census of all churches, mosques and shrines would be costly and time-consuming, making collaboration with recognised religious bodies and local authorities the most practical approach.
The Minister assured Parliament that the Ministry would work towards providing credible data to support policy formulation and improve the management of religious affairs in the country.
The sitting of the Government Assurance Committee, chaired by the MP for Bimbilla and former Minister for Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, was intended to assess the extent to which pledges and promises made by ministers on the floor of Parliament during question time had been fulfilled.