The General Overseer of the Solid Rock Chapel International, Rev. Dr. Christie Doh Tetteh, has urged the government to ensure the creation of sustainable jobs and incentives to lessen the plights of Ghanaians.

She has indicated that despite the promises by the current administration to provide comfortable life, many citizens are worse off now due to the economic distress inflicted on them.

“The government has to be on its feet, they have to listen to the populace, because people are talking, people are bleeding and if you can’t listen to the people you govern, how can you govern?” she asked.

In an interview on the Second Joy Christian Forum, she observed that “our political leaders do sweet talks but when it comes to implementation, they fall short.”

“What pains me is that they travel abroad, see beautiful things in other countries and how I wish that if they really want the betterment of this country, when they come back, they would implement such things that have made other countries what they are.

“When the government is coming they will tell you we are coming for the poor, but as soon as they get to where they want to get to, they forget about the poor,” she bemoaned.

She, however, noted that the church has its own role to play because, “there are problems that the government can solve, but there are some problems they can’t solve.”

Rev. Dr. Doh Tetteh explained that this is why “the church is very paramount. The church is paying school fees, paying house rents and doing all that it can” to meet the needs of people.

Meanwhile, an immediate past Presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Church International, Bishop Samuel Noi Mensah, said Christian bodies in the country have beliefs and practices that help people overcome stressful life circumstances.

According to him, the church’s contribution to education, health, agriculture and other social services have provided comfort to many citizens who may have committed suicide due to the current economic stress.

Speaking at the same forum, he noted that unlike some advanced countries that have put in place “very good social services” to sustain the social needs of people, Ghana lacks facilities and provisions that would cushion the populace in times of difficulties.

“In this country, we don’t have a lot of social services, and it is the church that is providing those social services. Every week, somebody will go to church. The singing, the prayer and hearing of the word of God bring comfort to that person.

“Otherwise, you’d end up having a lot of crazy people doing crazy things and the amount of suicide that you probably would experience, especially in these critical and difficult economic times.

“People are stressed, people are going insane, and it takes the provision of the church in sustaining the social fibre of this society,” he said.