The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, has warned that Ghana’s growing trust deficit could make it increasingly difficult for government to mobilise citizens behind critical socio-economic programmes.

The minister made the remarks on Wednesday, September 9, when members of the Ecumenical Council paid a working visit to the Ministry of Local Government, describing the loss of public confidence as one of the major challenges confronting the country.

“One of the major challenges of our time is the lack of trust. There’s a serious loss of trust. The citizens no longer trust their governments, both at the local level and at the national level,” Mr Ayariga said.

According to Mr Ayariga, the problem extends beyond political and state institutions, with some religious leaders also contributing to the erosion of public confidence through misconduct.

He says there is a need for a concerted effort to rebuild public trust in government and religious institutions, warning that growing mistrust could make it difficult to mobilise citizens behind Ghana’s socio-economic development agenda.

"Some of it is beginning to touch even the religious groups and how, in certain areas, some religious leaders have also terribly misconducted themselves. We need to work together to rebuild trust, both at the level of faith and also at the level of secular governance,” he said.

Mr Ayariga warned that failure to address the trust deficit could undermine efforts to achieve key national development objectives. He therefore challenged the Ecumenical Council to help develop practical solutions to restore the confidence Ghanaians once had in public and religious institutions.

“If we don’t rebuild trust, it becomes very difficult to mobilise the citizenry and galvanise them behind us to pursue key socio-economic objectives. And that is our greatest challenge. I throw this challenge to you as a think tank: how we can restore confidence, how we can restore the lost trust that people used to have,” he added.

The minister argued that restoring public confidence must therefore involve both faith-based institutions and secular governance structures.