The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has charged Christians not to allow politicians to hold the nation to ransom as the country prepares for general election in December this year. He said Christians and members of other religious organisations should rise up against the current threat of insecurity ahead of the elections. In an address read for him at the opening of the 8th national conference of the Legion of Mary of the Roman Catholic Church in Kumasi on Friday, Otumfuo Osei Tutu tasked Christians to imprint in the minds of political leaders virtues of love, tolerance and peace during the period. The three-day conference which is being attended by delegates from all over the country, was under the theme: "Go preach the gospel of justice, peace and reconciliation as Legionaries". Otumfuo Osei Tutu described the theme as very appropriate in the current situation where irresponsible behaviour and inflammatory statements were being made by politicians. He charged the Legionaries to preach and inculcate in Ghanaians the virtues of justice, love, reconciliation and peace, especially in this election year. The Asantehene said the country had enjoyed relative peace and stability which had earned it an enviable reputation in the comity of nations and that there was the need for all Ghanaians to jealously preserve it. Most Reverend Thomas Kwaku Mensah, Metropolitan Archbishop of Kumasi, said true peace could be obtained only through forgiveness and reconciliation. He urged the Legionaries to see themselves as instruments which could be used for peace and appealed to them to pray at all times for the sustenance of peace. Most Reverend Mensah spoke against what he described as "globalisation of sexual promiscuity" and stressed the need for self respect and dignity for the human body at all times. The Vicar General of the Kumasi Metropolitan Archdiocese, Monsignor Douglas Peters, called on Christians to love one another and work hard to promote peace in their communities. Source: GNA