Sakumono, April 25, GNA -- Right Reverend Samuel Achamfuor-Yeboah, Tema Diocesan Bishop of Methodist Church of Ghana on Thursday, called on Ghanaians to endeavour to protect Ghana's image during and after the 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

He said the nation would be embarrassed when nasty incidents occurred during and after the elections and therefore called on the Electoral Commission, the Executive, Legislature and the Media to ensure transparency in the elections.

Rt-Rev. Achamfour-Yeboah made the call at the opening of a four-day annual 11th Synod of Tema Methodist Diocese at Sakumono. It is under the theme "For Our Sake, He made Him to be Sin who knew no Sin-The Shame and the Sacrifice".

He pointed out that to ensure incident free election, there was the need for Ghanaians to vote for patriotic leaders who would seek their welfare and ensure rapid development and progress of the nation. "We should not put into office liars and those who are dishonest and immoral, we must have a leadership we can trust," he added.

"This calls for voting according to the dictates of conscience and not allowing monetary gains to influence the voting pattern in favour of relatives and friends who cannot perform satisfactorily". Rt-Rev. Achamfour-Yeboah, called on politicians to conduct clean campaigns devoid of inflammatory statements and asked the electorate to reject politicians whose messages and practices tended to create disharmony to ensure the prevailing peace and tranquility continued. Turning to the church, he called on the leadership not to allow criticisms to prevent them from exposing social vices by members to protect its image.

Rt-Rev. Achamfour-Yeboah noted that a leadership role was a challenging task that must be executed with tact otherwise they would be tempted to please their members rather than God and this would make them fail.

He called on the members to endeavour to mobilize funds to execute projects initiated by the church for rapid growth. Most Rev. Robert Aboagye-Mensah, Presiding Bishop of Methodist Church of Ghana, in a message called for the sustenance of the Methodist Development Fund to enable them have more funds to undertake projects. Fraternal messages from other churches called for smooth and peaceful December 7 election.