The General Overseer of the Royalhouse Chapel International, Reverend Sam Korankye Ankrah, has played down on the significance of money in next year's election and said prayer would be the crucial determining factor.

He said that the 2008 December general and presidential elections would be won on absolute reliance on God and not on the machinations of man or any principality.

In his new year message before a packed audience in Accra on Monday night, Reverend Ankrah warned that 'the election will be a very tough one and if the right man is not chosen, he may not end his term'.

He said the 2008 general election would be won on the altar of prayers rather than on vain promises. Reverend Ankrah stated that the next president would be a very crucial factor to Ghana's development goals and it was important that the right man occupied the seat.

He said the nation had been blessed with a lot of mineral resources yet poverty was staring us in the face and asked 'what happened to the gold, oil, cocoa and the others?'.

'We need a president who will preside over the country not on partisan lines but on moral authority and spiritual power,' he said.

He indicated that the number eight stood for a new beginning and any of the presidential candidates who happened to be either the first or the eighth born in the family would stand a better chance of winning the election.

Rev. Ankrah said the atmosphere was ripe for President John Agyekum Kufuor and former President Jerry John Rawlings to reconcile.

He said this year was the last opportunity they both had to reconcile with each other because very soon the two would be referred to as former presidents.

He said it was important for one of them to take the initiative, irrespective of the obstacles, to set the right tone for a good election year.

Story by Mary Mensah