Pastor Mensa Otabil, founder and leader of the International Central Gospel Church is missing in action.
One may ask why he is missing in action. Did he go to the war front on behalf of Ghana and never returned? The answer in this case is yes.
Ghanaians vividly remember the era of President John Dramani Mahama between the period of 2012 to 2017.
During this period, the President at the time, John Dramani Mahama came under severe criticism from both civil society organizations and Christian bodies.
One of such persons from the Christian community was General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Mensa Otabil.
In November 2012, some aspects of Pastor Otabil’s sermon went viral.
In the said sermon, the man of God urged his congregation to vote based on policies presented by political parties. He also asked his congregation and Ghanaians alike to vote wisely for leaders who will serve their interests and not partisan or tribal lines.
His comments at the time received backlash from members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which was in power at the time as they believed the comment was directed at them.
Pastor Otabil, had already been linked to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) so his comments were not taken lightly by the party (NDC).
Fast forward two years after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) won power in 2016, Pastor Mensah Otabil asserted that he does not pay attention to local media content due to excessive political discussions, and instead chooses to watch animals on Television.
This comment did not sit well with many, especially the NDC which believed religious groups and the media were both treating the NPP with kids’ gloves, as the party (NPP) was not living up to its promises and performing abysmally.
Now, the country is suffering untold economic hardships, coupled with maltreatment of protestors and a host of other issues, and the NPP keeps finding excuses.
Popular amongst these excuses are the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war. The shocking aspect of all these is the silence of civil society groups, religious bodies and the same stakeholders who made it a point to hold the NDC to account for its actions and inactions.
The question now is, what makes the NPP so different from the NDC to warrant them (NPP) being treated differently and not being scrutinized strictly as the NDC was whilst in power.
PastOr are all these groups and individuals waiting to express their grievances at the December 7 polls?
