Vice President John Dramani Mahama has called on religious leaders to exhibit high sense of neutrality and not to take sides in the national political discourse. He said being neutral would afford the religious leaders the moral courage to call politicians to order when they went wrong in the management of the affairs of the country. Mr. Mahama made this call when the Executive Council of the Assemblies of God Church called on him at the Castle, Osu. The Executive Council members were in the Castle to thank the Vice-President and the government for their support and also to officially introduce the new team to the government. Mr. Mahama also urged Ghanaians to tone down in their comments so as to reduce the political tension as Ghana prepares for another general election come 2012. He called on the church and traditional authorities to lead the crusade in reducing the tension. Mr. Mahama also said government was working with other stakeholders to raise the needed capital for the Electoral Commission (EC) to go into the Biometric registration exercise for the 2012 general election. He said the EC was working out the figures, and before they would come out with the modalities and cost, government would be ready to support since the Biometric registration would add to the credibility of the 2012 polls. Mr. Mahama commended the Church for its contribution towards both spiritual and material needs of the people. Rev. Dr. Paul Frimpong Manso, the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God-Ghana, commended the government for its achievements in the first half of its first term of office. Notable, among the governments achievements, he said, were the relative economic stability, infrastructural development as well as political maturity and tolerance exhibited even in the face of daunting challenges. He also commended President Mills for instituting a National Day of Fasting, Prayer and Thanksgiving which brings men and women of God to a common platform to seek the face of God for the peace and prosperity of the nation. He said that religious act by the government was not a ‘‘mere act of gratitude to God, but also an acknowledgment of the fact that without God this nation cannot make it’’. ‘‘Therefore, political parties and all Ghanaians should show a high sense of tolerance and peaceful co-existence. We are calling for a greater respect for intra and inter party democratic principle," he said. Rev. Dr. Frimpong Manso mentioned two hospitals which the Assemblies of God Church has at Saboba and Nakpanduri in the Northern Region and appealed to the government to help resource the one that had been raised to the level of a district hospital with X-ray equipment, provide staff quarters and post doctors there to handle the many cases reported to the hospital. He disclosed that the church's University College would take off in September this year and hoped that it would go a long way to contribute to the human resource development of the country. He appealed to the media, who, he described as the engine of the democratic process, to refrain from unethical conduct which could derail the Process or heighten tensions unnecessarily. Also present at the meeting were the Minister of Social Welfare and Employment, Mr. E.T. Mensah, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms. Shirley Ayittey, and Mrs. Dzifa Attivor, Deputy Minister of Transport. Source: The Ghanaian Times