Asesewa (E/R), Sept. 7, GNA - Mr Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi, Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, over the week-end called on women in the country to take advantage of some of the government initiatives that are aimed at reducing poverty in the country.

Mr Terlabi said government had women in the country at heart and was therefore committed to ensuring that they lived happily and comfortably.

He said this at Asesewa during the 7th biannual conference of the Koforidua Diocese of the Christian Mothers Association of the Catholic Church-Ghana and it was on the theme, “Mother Mary, Queen of peace.”

Mr Terlabi called on Ghanaians to seek peace and unity during the December 2012 general elections and also asked that politicians maintained tolerance and maturity which had endeared the country to Africa and the world as a whole.

Mr Stephen Amoanor Kwao, Member of Parliament for the Upper Manya Constituency and Minister of State at the Presidency, implored the women to intercede for the country in prayers so that the peace that currently prevailed would be sustained.

He indicated that it was necessary Ghanaians did everything to protect the relative peace the country is enjoying, adding that, “no nation or individual will want to invest in a war-torn country plagued with conflict.”

In her welcoming speech, Mother Valeria Yaa Doe, Eastern Regional President of the Association, remarked that as women, they were already scared that the peace being enjoyed in Ghana would be marred vis-à-vis the upsurge of insults in the political landscape.

She called on the Electoral Commission (EC) and all others concerned to ensure that total peace was achieved before, during and after the 2012 general election.

“The women are praying and reminding the Electoral Commissioner to handle the elections with care and transparently when the time comes”, she said