Security Analyst, Adam Bonaa, says that religion has completely failed in combating and dealing with crime.
He says that religious bodies have rather been responsible for fueling crimes in society.
“If you look at most of our leaders today, our church elders, some of the highly corrupt people in our society in Ghana are people who sit in the front row,” he said.
The 2018 Ghana Prison Statistics revealed that over 50 percent of prison inmates are Christians with a total of 4,813 Christian prisoners.
Muslims ranked second with a percentage of 20.02 and a total of 1,809 inmates. Traditional religion came third with 1,029 prisoners, other religion followed with 964 prisoners and the least recorded based on religious ranking were non-religious with 419 persons.
Adam Bonaa, however, admitted that the population break down of the country makes it less surprising because there are more Christians living in the country “but then it begs the question, what is being taught in our churches, what is being taught in our mosques?”
Speaking on the Pulse on the JoyNews channel, he stated that churches have been corrupt and have been culprits to crimes like tax evasion.
He also said that churches no longer teach sermons that will enrich the moral lives of individuals rather; sermons have been reduced to teachings on how to acquire wealth.
“Church leaders in Ghana these days don’t even hide their wealth, you see them buying all the Rose Royce, the Bugatti and all that so the chances are that people leave these churches and go out there to enrich themselves.”
He stated that luxurious living by religious leaders compels congregants to go out there in search of quick wealth.
Mr. Bonaa also urged religious leaders to put in place measures that will ensure efficient rehabilitation which will equip ex-convicts with requisite skills for personal development.
He stated that ex-convicts become repeat offenders because they lack proper rehabilitation.
“So I believe that Christian and Muslim leaders will have to conduct more research to unearth what they are teaching their congregants,” he stated.