The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, has revealed that more than 2,000 churches in the Greater Accra Region are operating without formal registration, raising concerns about regulatory oversight in the country’s rapidly expanding religious sector.
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, February 18, 2026, Mr Ibrahim said that although over 2,200 churches were registered in Greater Accra as of 2025, thousands more across the country continue to operate outside official records.
He, however, announced plans to introduce a digital registry system to streamline church registration and provide accurate national data.
He explained that the initiative would involve collaboration between key state institutions to verify and track churches operating in the country.
“We will establish a formal collaboration with the Registrar General’s Department, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Ministry of Justice to assess records of churches registered as companies limited by guarantee,” Mr Ibrahim told Parliament.
The Minister said metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies would maintain local registers of churches within their jurisdictions, while the proposed digital platform would allow religious bodies to update their operational status in real time.
According to available regional survey data, about 98.1% of churches in Greater Accra operate as single-owner entities, with only a small proportion affiliated with larger church organisations. Although the Registrar General’s Department does not publish a consolidated national figure, projections suggest the number of churches nationwide runs into several thousands.
Mr Ibrahim said the proposed system would strengthen governance and improve transparency in the religious sector.
“This initiative aims to ensure accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date data on churches, which will be critical for governance, planning, and regulatory oversight,” he said.
The move comes amid the continued growth of Christianity in Ghana. Data from the Ghana Statistical Service shows that 71.2% of Ghanaians identified as Christians in the 2021 Population and Housing Census, including 31.6% Pentecostal or Charismatic, 18.4% Protestant, 10% Catholic, and 11.2% belonging to other Christian denominations.
The proposed digital registry will be linked to the Registrar General’s database to enable verification of operational churches and enhance accountability within the sector.
Mr Ibrahim described the initiative as a necessary step toward modernising administrative systems and strengthening regulation in a sector that has witnessed rapid expansion in recent decades.
“This is a timely step toward modernising our administrative systems and strengthening accountability in the religious sector,” he concluded.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com