Reverend Emmanuel Antwi-Tumfuor, Pastor, Tema West District of the Evangelical Presbyterian (E.P) Church, Ghana, says the country's accelerated development is a collective responsibility, which requires commitment and dedication from all citizens.

Rev. Antwi-Tumfuor urged Ghanaians not to allow partisan politics, religion or ethnic differences to undermine the unity and peace the country need to advance the national development agenda.

The Clergyman, who was the Immediate Past National Director of Evangelism of the E.P Church, Ghana speaking during his New Year message in Accra, urged Ghanaians not to despair in the challenges facing the country, but hope for the best in 2021.

"The fact that we are in another new year indicates His favour and the task He has for us to continue to impact positively on people we encounter every day be it at work, the church, market and other social gatherings," he said.

He thanked God for a successful election and prayed that any disagreements against the election results in both the Presidential and Parliamentary polls would be resolved expeditiously by the court.

"One thing that makes peace meaningful to any aggrieved person or persons, is to see justice being done without fear or favour. When this occurs, it helps in no small way to bring amicable resolution of disagreements or disputes," he said.

He urged the youth not to allow their emotions to be misdirected towards any distractive activity because they have a greater stake in the forward march of the country's development.

"Our politicians, must tolerate one another’s views, and always endeavour to put the interest of Ghana first in all our actions and utterances".

Touching on COVID-19 COVID-19 pandemic, Rev Antwi-Tumfuor commended the health workers and other stakeholders in the frontline for the coordinated manner they responded to the fight against the pandemic.

On the environment, he called for immediate attention to climate change issues, so that the world was not overtaken by unexpected events with disastrous consequences for humanity.

He said the country needed to rekindle the habit of regular tree planting to conserve the environment.

Rev. Antwi-Tumfuor called for stringent enforcement of road safety regulations against over-speeding, wrong overtaking, drunk driving, haphazard abandoning of faulty vehicles on the road and illegal speed ramps among others, which endanger the lives of the motoring public, causing accidents.

He also called on the authorities, to get engineers to do serious re-engineering and if possible construct interchanges at the major entry point to Accra to ease traffic in the city and across the country.

Touching on the recent market fires, he called on all especially traders to institute safety measures to reduce or prevent future fire outbreaks in the markets, which had become alarming.

He charged on the authorities to continue with the education on fire safety for the citizenry to be aware of the dangers of fire outbreaks in the country for amicable solutions to the menace.