Apostle Mark Obeng Andoh, the Sunyani Area Head of the church of Pentecost on Thursday entreated ministers of God to propagate the message of peace and refrain from using their pulpit to engage in politics.
He said the message of peace was what the general public needed most in this year’s general elections.
Apostle Obeng, who is also the Bono, Ahafo and Bono East coordinator of the church of Pentecost, was speaking at a day’s peace summit on election 2020 jointly organized by the Bono Christian Council and the Muslim community in Sunyani.
The summit on the theme: “Promoting Peace in election 2020” aimed to encourage stakeholders to ensure peace before, during and after election 2020.
Representatives of political parties, Electoral Commission, Muslim communities, the Pentecostal church of Ghana, National Association of Charismatic and Christian Churches (NACCC), Peace Council, the Muslim community, Traditional Council, security officers and the public attended the forum.
Apostle Obeng observed that it was not good for men of God to talk about politics in the church in an election year since it could create confusion and affect the peace.
Apostle Andoh urged Ghanaians to sustain the peace and not to wish to have an experience of war as in some countries.
Right Reverend Festus Yeboah Asuahmah, Bishop of the Sunyani Anglican Dioceses, who chaired the summit, noted that God had blessed the country with peace and that should never be taken for granted.
He called on Ghanaians to understand that election had become part of the country’s democratic dispensation and needed to be embraced.
Right Reverend Asuamah called on Ghanaians to accept the outcome of the elections and called on stakeholders to pray for free and fair elections.
Mr Ernest Opoku, Sunyani Municipal Electoral officer of the Electoral Commission (EC), entreated the public to trust the EC to conduct a transparent election in line with its mandate.
He assured Ghanaians that this year’s election would be the most ever peaceful in the history of the country.
The political parties representatives at the summit pledged for peace and called on EC to remain neutral in the exercise to ensure free and fair elections
The stakeholders after the summit appended their signatories to the election 2020 peace pledge.