NDC Attacks Otabil

A member of the NDC Communications team, Samuel George, has accused Dr. Otabil of putting up the semblance of a man of God whiles his conduct is that of a businessman.

He also accused Pastor Otabil of exhibiting signs of 'skin pain' of the withdrawal of his diplomatic passport by the NDC administration under former President Atta Mills.

Samuel George did not only label the renowned pastor a member of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) whose intention is to demean the Mahama-led administration, but also accused him of not attending any national prayer session because of his resentment for the ruling party.

Sam George
The NDC activist, who had never worked in his life until his engagement by the NDC after the 2008 electoral 'victory,' said Dr. Otabil's 'attitude, demeanour and choice of words are purely political and malice-intended' the claim by the respected man of God that Ghana needs a new leadership to tackle the current socio-economic challenges facing the country.

At the launch of this year's 'Festival of Ideas' in Accra, the ICGC head pastor pointed out that 'all is not well…I believe that we need a new leadership. The times we are in require a leadership that responds to crisis with clarity and with purpose.'

Pastor Mensah Otabil said the current state of affairs in Ghana showed that 'the country's ship is sinking.'

He said on Thursday, 'I have just let you know that we are in this ocean and our ship is going down.'

'I haven't given you a lot to be happy about. That's not my job! We can't pretend it is a party on board our ship and I hope the captains of the ship don't behave like the captain of the first Titanic who was so over confident that he allowed thousands of people to die just because he wasn't prepared for the crisis,' he said ominously.

President John Mahama had said in a message at this year's Eid-Fitr festival in Kumasi that he was the captain of the ship and that he knew where he was taking the country to.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, a presidential hopeful of the NPP responded during his campaign launch in Accra by reminding President Mahama that the ship he was steering was sinking.

According to Nana Akufo-Addo, it reminded him of an old Trinidadian calypso song of the 1970s, called Gypsy, with the words “Captain this ship is sinking…'

Pastor Otabil said, 'I don't control the economy…If they make good decisions, good for us, if they don't, we prepare for the worst'.

All Is Not Well
Pastor Otabil said; 'It has been said that we are in a crisis in our country. That's a bit subjective based on who is saying what? But we can all say all is not well,' adding, 'I believe that we need a new leadership response in our national life. We cannot continue partying and we cannot assume that things will get better.'

Otabil said Ghana needed measures that were “intentional, decisive and methodical” in saving the sinking ship from choppy waters and added that Ghana 'appears [to be] on a permanent trajectory of deterioration…I find it difficult to see how things will get back to normal.”

But in a rather sharp response on Asempa Fm, Sam George stated that 'His [Dr. Mensah Otabil] words are not from God'.

'For the past six years, Mensah Otabil has failed to attend every national prayer organised by the NDC government because of jealousies,' he charged.

No Diplomatic Passport
However, Albert Ocran, spokesperson for Pastor Otabil, debunked claims that the pastor was bitter towards the government because he was denied a diplomatic passport.

Pastor Ocran stated categorically on Joy Fm's Newsfile on Saturday that “Otabil has never requested, never accepted and has never ever had a diplomatic passport at any time in his life”.