Ghana Unveils National Bus Preaching Licensing Board, Requires Permit for Every Hallelujah
To preserve order on the country's tro-tros, officials say every sermon will now need prior approval, a numbered badge, and a scheduled call-and-response slot.
The newly formed National Bus Preaching Licensing Board announced plans to issue permits to anyone wishing to deliver a sermon aboard a moving tro-tro, each permit stamped with a route number and a maximum amen count.
Under the proposed system, preachers will be assigned routes by lottery, meaning a minister who has spent decades perfecting his rush-hour altar call might suddenly find himself preaching exclusively on a quiet suburban loop with four stops and almost no passengers.
Officials say the licensing exam will not test theology but crowd logistics, with candidates graded on their ability to complete a full sermon, offering, and closing hymn before the bus reaches its next traffic light.
Conductors, who currently wave preachers aboard with a nod, will now be deputized to check permits at the door, a duty one union representative described only as "a great deal more paperwork than the job used to require."
The Board insists the new rules are about preserving order rather than restricting preaching itself, though it has yet to explain why the permit application includes a box for preferred hymn key.