Pastor Mensa Otabil, Founder of ICGC
Pastor Mensah Otabil is or used to be a veritable role model for most Christians in Ghana. In more ways than one, he has demonstrated discipleship and purposeful commitment to life. His teachings are pretty deep and his examples are refreshingly apt for changing our knowledge, skills and attitude. It is gratifying to state that he is “a man of solid personal achievements,” a regrettably diminishing category of people in Ghana today.
From a very humble beginning, he has become celebrity in Ghana and beyond, especially with establishment of Central University for [ads1]complementing government efforts at expanding opportunities to higher education in Ghana.
Unfortunately for some of his admirers like me, Pastor Otabil decided to meddle in partisan politics in a rather unorthodox manner. He has cultivated a disturbing habit of cunningly and worryingly doing partisan politics from the pulpit. This is how and when his agony and nightmare of being treated like any other politician began. He is bewildered and frustrated that ordinary people are taking a bite at him.
Pastor Otabil may well have thought that his “religious immunity” ought be respected by all Ghanaians. He intriguingly appointed himself an attacker of the NDC govt under John Mahama. He was therefore deemed to have tripped himself of his privileged religious immunity.
As Chinua Achebe said, “He who brings infested magot into his house, should not be surprised when lizards invade in compound”.
Pastor Mensah Otabil is on record to have sold blessings in dollars ($5,000, $4,000, & 3,000) to his Church members. Other clergy men criticised him and said it was wrong. He referred to President John Mohama as an incompent President. Some Ghanaians threw mud at him whilst some pastors described his attack on the former as unacceptable. He was mad at his less privileged colleagues.
The man who described the President of his country as incompetent, ran Capital Bank as Board Chairman to its total collapse. GCB which is a bank foundered with taxes paid by “people who look like insults” will now have to bail out the mess created under his watch.
One more time, people criticised him for his incompetence in overseeing the affairs of the Bank as Board Chairman. This gave Pastor Otabil a compelling reason to say “people who look like insult are insulting him”.
When he insulted the President of his country, what did he think he looked like? As an angel? It sounds like our celebrated Pastor does not believe in equality of human beings. He has arguably achieved considerable material success in Ghana. But he appears to be confering deity status on himself when he referred to a colleague man of God as “looking like insult”. This is not good for him. This is an insult to God. Just as Christ accepted insults, and said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are going” we expect Pastor Otabil to do same. I know Pastor Otabil knows this is not what Jesus Christ taught his disciples.
We love Pastor Otabil. He should be advised to concentrate on what he knows best, “preaching the word of God” to safe soul for the Kingdom of God.
If he wants to hide behind the pulpit and do partisan politics, he should be ready to accept criticisms that come with it. If he comes into the gutter he should not fear mud. I know what he said was out of anger. Pastor is a refined clergy man who we expect to do better than this. He should apologise to his admirers and move on. To err is human.
