Otabil for President?

Head Pastor of International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Dr Mensah Otabil’s recent obsession with best suited leadership for the country is generating controversy among some Ghanaians; some of whom believe he is eyeing the presidency.

Those who think the renowned motivational speaker has ambition for the highest office of the land say, Dr Otabil’s recent utterances, mostly in the form of ‘motivational speaking’ is a subtle move to warm his way into the hearts of Ghanaians.

Although those who side with this view agreed Dr Otabil would make a good president should he decide to contest, they however say the influential man of God will only be accepted by Ghanaians if he runs as independent presidential candidate.

But those who hold contrary view on the matter say the ICGC founder over the years has been a passionate advocate of ‘best leadership’ for the country and that, his present posturing has no linkage to him aspiring to become president.

According to this group, the Chancellor of Central University on many occasions has been advising Ghanaians to weigh leaders who put themselves up for election before voting for them.

Rejecting claims that Dr Otabil is hiding behind motivational talks and supposed constructive criticisms to court support for his presidential bid, a junior pastors at the Christ Temple of ICGC who spoke to this paper on condition of anonymity said “Dr Otabil is not a coward to hide under anything, he is a man of God and he is not estopped from doing the things he is doing. His teachings have been an inspiration to many people not only in Ghana but across Africa and beyond.”

Beginning from a humble background, the renowned man of God who was reported to have started preaching in class rooms of government schools, has today succeeded in lifting his church from the scratch to the huge magnificent edifice at Abossey Okai with branches all over the country and a huge following.

Through his Ministry, (ICGC), Dr Otabil has successfully established one of the most respected and well-equipped private tertiary institution in the country; the Central University. The University was early this year granted its charter as a full fledge university that can award its own degrees.

Dr. Otabil’s modest foundation was recently reflected in one of his sermons when he told a large congregation that his late father was not a good father.

“When I was growing up, I didn’t choose my father, my father was a good man in his own way, but he wasn’t a good father, he wasn’t good, and it’s not nice to say your father wasn’t a good father because all of us want to be proud saying: ‘My father was the own who brought this to Ghana, my father was the one …’, but he wasn’t, he didn’t treat his wife well – my mother,” Dr Otabil said.

Ahead of the 2012 elections, the Central University founder was seen by many as apolitical until he took on the National Democratic Congress for using one of his sermons which condemned NPP flag bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo’s “all-die-be-die” mantra as, a campaign message.

“They believe that the action is good by itself because after all, all die be die. For those of you who are not familiar with Pidgin English that means all death is death. All die be die. After all six feet at last. After all we will die and leave here. People who talk like that are bad company. Oh yes! People who talk like that, the Bible says, they say; 'let's eat and drink for tomorrow we die.' And it says for such people, be careful of them because bad company will destroy all the good habits you have,” Pastor Otabil stated in one of his sermons ahead of the 2012 elections.

The NDC used his sermon as one of their numerous campaign tools ahead of the 2012 elections to go after Nana Akufo-Addo; a development that irked Dr Otabil leading him to organize a press conference to respond to the ruling party with harsh words.

Since his brush with the NDC which pushed him to stop airing his sermons on Accra-based Radio Gold, a station thought to be sympathetic to government, Dr Otabil has been critical of the Mahama administration. He has severally, albeit subtly, described the government as unfit.

The ICGC founder cum entrepreneur, aside being critical of the John Mahama government has been tagged as doing the bidding of the opposition New Patriotic Party.

To lift the veil over what people described as his NPP affiliation, the founder of the ICGC, and other renowned religious leaders were early last year reported to have attended a high level meeting convened by Ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor, aimed at resolving the internal ‘crisis’ within the NPP.

Having gained notoriety for bashing the Mahama government, Dr Otabil has been sharing his thoughts on leadership and relationship issues which are gradually resonating with most people.

Recent among his thought-provoking teachings was a sermon to his congregation last week, about generational leaders. He implored them to accept good leaders and reject bad ones. “Remember not all generational leaders are good; some are good, some are bad,” he noted.

“Good leaders must be accepted, bad leaders must be rejected,” he advised, adding: “When you accept a generational leader, you embrace their values and you cannot reject what you have accepted.”

“When you accept somebody, you accept his value, I know that no one is perfect, I’m not perfect, but a leader must get the major things right, the major things must be right, I mean everybody has a problem but your [leader] problem must not be big…” he said.

As far as Dr Otabil is concerned, Africa’s biggest problem is bad leadership. “If you ask people: ‘What is the biggest problem of Africa?’, [they’ll tell you] it’s leadership. That’s the biggest problem. We have all the resources…why do we continue to have leadership problem? Because we accept what is unacceptable, and when you accept what is unacceptable, it will brand you, it will mark you”.

During the same sermon, Dr Otabil condemned the practice where parents force their children to, at all cost, marry into rich and prestigious families, saying it could be counterproductive.

“Those of you who are pushing your children [to] marry money, they are young, every couple normally starts broke. It is normal for them to be broke. But if they start well and they do well, they have forty years ahead of them to change their broke situation. So teach it (respect). Don’t teach your children money and titles and names and pedigree and: ‘That family is prestigious, go and marry from a prestigious family.’ Do you know what is in that family?” Dr Otabil asked, saying: “You don’t know what he is carrying and you force your own child into that,” he stated.

Many including known critics of the respected man of God have been addicted to this quotation have been sharing on social media, particularly facebook.

“The manner in which his sermons and motivational talks are drawing support to him and the manner in which he is doing it”, one known admirer of Dr Otabil noted, “makes me believe he wants to use it to win people to his side and eventually announce a presidential bid.”