The Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, Charles Palmer Buckle, has asked that the Electoral Commission (EC) and other organs of state be left to operate independently in the discharge of their duties.
He has also urged Ghanaians not to relent in prayer for a peaceful election this year.
Archbishop Palmer Buckle believes that with prayers, love, tolerance and understanding, Ghana will be able to go through the upcoming election peacefully.
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the 13thSession of the Extraordinary Council Meeting of the Church of Pentecost (COP), the Archbishop said God has indeed showered his blessings on the country by seeing Ghanaians through five (5) consecutive elections and thus there is no way the sixth one will be different.
�� God has seen us through five elections and so we know that He will see us through the sixth one; because we pray... This is a country that prays. So the first thing I will say is that let us join together in prayers for this country; every Ghanaian should pray for this country. I will encourage Ghanaians to pray because our God listens to us when we pray�we�ve done it five times and so we can only improve upon the sixth time. Our confidence in the Electoral Commission should be high because they have done it for five times very well and so the sixth time can only be better. We should commend them and all those involved and tell them that we have confidence in them and that they can do it. We must also encourage the security services and give deep respect to them�,� Archbishop Palmer Buckle said.
The Extraordinary Council Meeting is held annually by the COP and brings together executives of the church worldwide. This year�s meeting, which is currently on-going at the Pentecost University, will end on Friday, May 18th.
Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra who was the Special Guest of Honour at the meeting, encouraged Christians to respond to the great commission which was assigned to Christians in Mark to go into the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.
Touching on the just-ended 40 day nationwide Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) exercise, Archbishop Palmer Buckle described it as highly successful since only �a very small, negligible minority�, a little over 8,000 engaged in double registration out of the estimated 13 million who partook in the exercise. He took the opportunity to encourage Ghanaians to boldly speak out in a spirit of humility and simplicity when the wrong thing is being done.
�I am very convinced that if you look at the biometric registration exercises, out of 12 or 13 million people who registered, only about 8 thousand engaged in double registration. It is a very small, negligible minority and yet the newspapers give the impression that it was so bad. No, it�s been so positive. 99.9% of Ghanaians have gone to register and have proven that we can do it and do it well. Let us pray, let us stand up for Ghana; commend Ghanaians where Ghanaians have done very well. Let us take it upon ourselves to be one another�s keeper. When we see something going on, we should be able to correct one another. Pastors should lead their people in prayer; they should teach them the word of God which is love, tolerance, understanding, forgiveness. Ghana is about 68% Christians so if we get all our 68% Christians to really stand up for Ghana for peace and happiness, I don�t think there is any reason why we should fail�� he noted.
On his part, the Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Dr. Opoku Onyinah, speaking at the same function, admonished the youth to respect the rule of law, exercise responsible behavior and character and to be disciplined at all times. He also urged them to develop their moral strength and courage and to keep away from unhealthy influences by some leaders who would want to use them to achieve their parochial interests.
�We need to learn to be tolerant of each other and live together as brothers and sisters in our nation. I am confident that the Almighty God will guide us before, during and after this year�s general elections. Ghana will once again have a peaceful election. Let us all avail ourselves as agents of peace,� he added.
Source: Rebecca Addo-Tetteh/Peacefmonline
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