Going down the Rwanda religious freedom road?

Ghana’s Constitutional Review Committee (CRC), chaired by Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, recently presented its recommendations to President John Dramani Mahama.

The lengthy 127-page document is available for public scrutiny and its contents have been the subject of much private and public debate.

Following the CRC’s extensive interactions with stakeholders and citizens, the report’s recommendations include the need to strengthen and bolster democracy, accountability and governance.

The CRC report made no mention of the role of religion in Ghana’s democracy. 

Religious freedom

Ghana has a high standard of religious freedom, characterised by a constitutional guarantee of freedom of worship, no state religion and peaceful coexistence between religious groups.

Christian-Muslim, interfaith and traditional religious harmony is generally strong, although there are periodic societal tensions and debates around the role of religion in public life, including in schools. 

Ghana’s religious leaders regularly engage in dialogue to promote tolerance and understanding. Article 21 of the 1992 Constitution guarantees Ghanaians’ fundamental freedom to practice any religion or none, as well as freedom of assembly and expression.

The Constitution does not enshrine the concept of majoritarianism, that is, where a majority of the population is entitled to a certain degree of religious primacy.

Instead, the Constitution prescribes a secular state, with religious pluralism and equal importance of all religious beliefs. In the post-1992 era, successive governments have consistently sought to facilitate religious freedom and to prevent or curtail religious conflicts.

The Church and the PNDC

When I first visited Ghana in the mid-1980s, researching for a PhD on the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government, around 40 per cent of Ghanaians were Christians.

Today, the percentage has nearly doubled: the 2021 census found that 71.3 per cent of Ghanaians are Christians. 

In the 1980s, there were an estimated 500 Christian denominations in Ghana.

This was a time of major expansion of Pentecostalism, which saw the number of churches grow to an estimated 2,500 during the 1990s. 

The 1992 Constitution makes plain the importance of religious freedom in Ghana.

This contrasts with the situation during the PNDC rule when many believed that Jerry John Rawlings’ government was intent on reducing religious freedom. 
Churches were at the forefront of civil society demands for multi-party democracy, with religious freedom a key demand.

Human Rights Watch, a non-profit watchdog group headquartered in New York City, reported in 1990 that the PNDC was ‘cracking down on religious organisations through its controversial Religious Bodies Registration Law (PNDC Law 221), requiring all religious bodies to register with the Ministry of the Interior’.

The PNDC claimed that PNDC Law 221 was necessary to curb “bogus churches” and prevent religious malpractice’. Fast-growing neo-prophetic/‘one-man’ churches particularly aroused the PNDC’s annoyance.

A person close to the PNDC recently explained to me that ‘even the mainline churches had issues with the[ir] radicalism. So, it was not surprising that the revolution clashed with a few of them’. 

Religious regulation

Today, there are countless thousands of churches in Ghana, with a reported 2,200 neo-prophetic/‘one-man’ churches officially registered in the Greater Accra Region and thousands more operating nationwide without formal registration.

The Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, recently stated that: ‘Regional survey data show that about 98.1 per cent of churches in Greater Accra operate as single-owner entities, with only a small fraction affiliated with larger church organisations.’

The Minister informed Parliament in February 2026 that in order to ‘make it easier for authorities to verify and monitor church operations’, the government would ‘introduce a centralised digital registry system to streamline registration and ensure accurate, comprehensive data on churches across the country’.

Is this the thin end of the wedge?

Does this imply a move to curtail religious freedom in Ghana?

My recent conversations with prominent Christians made it clear to me that there is much concern about the unregulated expansion of neo-prophetic/‘one-man’ churches and a strong desire to see a registration system in place. 

Christian sources would prefer a system of self-regulation.

It is not clear if the government’s plan to regulate churches was drawn up following discussions with Christian leaders. 

Will Ghana go down the ‘Rwanda road’?

Rwanda is strictly regulating faith-based organisations under a 2018 law, resulting in the closure of over 10,000 churches by late 2025.

Regulations mandate registration with a state body, the Rwanda Governance Board, mandatory theological training for pastors, strict building safety and soundproofing of religious buildings.

The government explains that these measures are intended to professionalise the sector, ensure safety and prevent the exploitation of citizens, not restrict religious freedom.

Ghana’s government may be contemplating religious regulation along the lines of the Rwanda model.

Certainly, many Ghanaians are concerned about unregulated churches, a perceived lack of professionalism and claims of citizens’ exploitation by some pastors. 

Yet, it seems unlikely that Ghanaians want widespread suppression of religious freedom.

The government has a difficult balancing act to regulate the religious environment without curtailing crucial religious rights.

The writer is an Emeritus Professor of Politics, London Metropolitan University, UK.