President of Concerned Clergy Association of Ghana, Bishop Prince Bennie Wood has accused successive governments of sideling the contributions made by religious leaders in the country’s development.

When asked if the clergy has the ear of political leaders at Joy FM’s Christian Election Forum Sunday, Bishop Wood described governments’ frequent interactions with the church on issues as a “ceremonial meeting”.

According to him, the engagements that governments has with the church is to make it appear as though both religious and political leaders are together but that may not be the case.

“Running campaigns in Ghana are very expensive, so some of these political parties go to some of these businessmen who already have their own interest.

"So when they come into office, it is not our words they want to hear. They have to pay back the people who invested in their parties during the campaign. And so when they come to us, it is more of a ceremonial thing.

"They do it for the society can think that this particular government listens to religious leaders, but in actual fact, they do not really take anything that we say; because if they do, we will not be having the level of corruption that we are seeing,” he was categorical.