Accra, March 14, GNA - Mr. Fritz Baffour, Member of Parliament for Ablekuma South on Saturday reiterated the need for the youth to shun all forms of social vices to become responsible future leaders in the church and society.

"To be a good leader you need a certain pride which is a sense of integrity, dedication to the work and commandments of God, as well as seeking divine wisdom to address challenges in the society". Mr. Baffour was speaking at the opening of the 22nd Biennial Delegates conference of the Korle-Gonno Circuit Youth Fellowship of Methodist Church Ghana.

The three-day conference is on the theme: "Raising young leaders of integrity for sustainable development of the Church and Society." Delegates are from the five branches of the circuit namely Mount Zion, Bortianor, Bethesda, Glefe and Domiabra. Mr. Baffour said since the prime resource of every nation is its labour force, the church and society must play complementary roles to promote the development of the quality human resource required for achieving socio-economic development.

"As Christian youth, you need to manage yourself properly before taking the mantle of leadership to manage society in future. Basic rules in the society originally came from the church, so you must use the Bible as an instrument to lead a better life for the benefit of society," he said. Mr. Baffour said it was unfortunate that fishermen were not accorded the needed respect because majority of them lacked basic education.

He said, it was part of his plans to advocate for the inclusion of fishing lessons in the basic education curricular as part of efforts to develop interest in fishing and promote respect for fishermen. Mr. Baffour said it was essential that, every worker in the country contributed towards achieving economic growth. In an address read on his behalf, Very Rev. Asford Nii Yartey Quarcoo, Superintendent Minister in-charge of the Korle-Gonno Circuit of the Methodist Church, Ghana urged the youth to adhere strictly to their religious beliefs and develop a sense of purpose in life. "Persons with moral values are not dictated to by circumstances and do not yield to temptations but they are always firm in their convictions and use the knowledge acquired in the church to transform society for the better," he said. Mr. Theophilus Sackey, Chairman of the circuit noted that financial constraints was hindering the Circuit's efforts in monitoring and motivating weaker branches of the Circuit at Glefe and Domiabra.