The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) is urging government to make local authorities and religious bodies an integral part of the Covid -19 management body, especially the communication team of the body .

The council says this will encourage local folks to adhere strictly to the Covid-19 safety protocols.

According to the CCG, local folks hold strong belief in such institutions therefore using them as a medium to disseminate information about Covid-19 safety protocols will lead local folks to quickly and strictly adhere to the directives.

“The church stands for the welfare of the individual in all regards and so people feel that as they listen to their pastors, they listen to the voice of God,” Chairman of the Council Rev. Dr. Paul Boafo said on Wednesday during a virtual discussion on the AM show on the JoyNews Channel.

“Churches are places where people visit to have their fears allayed or taken way and that is role the church has played all this while. From the very beginning, even before the whole thing started we were praying and giving assurances that the Lord is with us and that if we go through the protocols as laid down we know that we are conquerors and we shall overcome this pandemic.

“And so we believe that if we come in to support, if we come in to help in giving the information to people, that this is the way to go about it, the whole thing can go down well with our rural folks especially because they know that the pastor comes in to speak about Covid, the same way the church leader comes in to give in any new information,” he added.

Adding his voice to the conversation, Head of Human Resource Department at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) Prof. Amponsah Tawiah could not agree less with the pastors comments.

According to him Traditional Authorities wield more power when it comes to influencing members of the society.

“The challenge lies with the informal sector and that is where I’ll turn to agree with Reverend to say that there was this lapse in involving community leaders; because you reckon that, in the environment that we live in the community leaders play a key role in enforcing rules and regulations of society and I dare say that when you go out there some people indeed fear community rules, and rules coming from community leaders even more than that coming from government,” Prof. Tawiah said.