Accra, Nov. 29, GNA - The Rev. Sam Korankye Ankrah, General Overseer of the Royalhouse Chapel International, has called on Ghanaians to protect the peace of the country before, during and after the December 7 elections.

"We must as of necessity ensure that we do not lose the peaceful atmosphere we have in this country before, during and after the December 7 elections because if we do, we are going to be worse off than our neighbouring countries," he said.

Rev. Ankrah made the call on Sunday during a sermon at a beach party organized by Sunny FM, an Accra-based private radio station, in commemoration of its first anniversary celebration.

"Sunny FM could not have organized this beach party for us all to be here if not because of the peaceful atmosphere in the country," he said. "That is why we cannot afford to sacrifice the peace we have for partisan politics."

He noted that Ghana was surrounded by countries, all of which were either experiencing or had experienced political conflict and none of these countries - Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso - could accommodate refugees from Ghana.

The West African sub-region has seen bloody wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire.

Rev. Ankrah described as "very unfortunate" statements some politicians made on political platforms in their bid to win votes.

"We cannot afford to follow misguided statements by some self-seeking politicians and commit acts that would derail the peaceful atmosphere in the country. The peace of this nation should be more important to us than the interest of any politician or political party."

Rev. Ankrah reminded politicians that no matter who won power, he could not govern a divided and an unstable nation.

"The church and religious bodies must pray for the peace of this nation because some of the things we read in the newspapers are a wake up call for us