2008, Year of hope - Religious leaders (pg 31) Jan. 02/08

THE Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana, Most Reverend Dr Robert Aboagye-Mensah, has asked Ghanaians to be gracious to God for the relatively peaceful environment he provided the nation in 2007 and urged all to work collectively towards a prosperous 2008, reports Charles Benoni Okine.
He said Ghana is the true land of our birth and we all have a collective duty to ensure that we work hard towards achieving our aims.
In an interview on the prospects for the new year, the Most Reverend Aboagye-Mensah said the year 2008 begins with the upcoming African Cup of Nations (CAN 2008) as the major event and noted that there was the need for Ghanaians as hosts to go beyond the normal hospitality and be more accommodating to ensure a peaceful tournament.
“We need to be polite in all that we do to show to our visitors that we are not only hospitable but also very polite”, he said adding that “we also need to be ensure that we co-operate fully with the security agencies at all fronts to enable them to discharge their duties as expected during the tournament”.
On the upcoming elections which many political pundits had already described as a crucial test for the country’s democracy, Most Reverend Aboagye-Mensah, entreated all political party leaders to conduct a clean campaign during the period.
He called on the government to well resource the Electoral Commission to enable to conduct a free, fair and transparent elections and to declare the results early enough to avoid any anxieties among the contesting parties.
Most Reverend Aboagye-Mensah recalled the 2004 elections which he indicated that the delay in the announcement of the final results brought tension “and we do not want a repetition this time around”.
He said all the candidates of the parties so far have the capability of governing the country, a situation which will make the election a tough one and urged all the leaders to ensure that they worked hard towards wining in an atmosphere of peace.
“We expect the losers to accept defeat in the end because it is only through a peaceful acceptance of the results that the nation would continue to enjoy peace”, Most Reverend Aboagye-Mensah advised.
He expressed the believe that the EC would live up to the task by ensuring that there is no basis for any losing party to spark trouble in the country.
The Presiding Bishop also noted that the election period would be a major test for the security agencies in the country but expressed the hope that with tact and professionalism, they would be able to live up to the task to ensure no violence throws the peace of the country overboard.
Most Reverend Aboagye-Mensah said the issue of immorality had been a problem in the 2007 and noted that there was the need for people to be content with what they had and deists from finding short cuts to success.
He said it behoves both the young and old to ensure that they lived upright lives in the new year to make Ghana a more peaceful place to live.