Ghanaians Deserve Better ‘Tastes’ To Develop--Mensah Otabil

Pastor Mensah Otabil has cited a culture of lowered standards and unsophisticated tastes on the part of Ghanaians as factors holding the country back.

Delivering the keynote address at the 2018 Springboard Global Convocation, the head pastor of the International Central Gospel Church challenged Ghanaian not to settle for less no matter which aspects of society they are involved in.

Pastor Otabil’s address began with a critique of some Ghanaians films and their poor special effects.

He recounted a scene from a film which had a witch transfiguring into a snake in a demonstration of her supernatural abilities.

After describing the poor effects used in this scene, he stated that this was a microcosm of Ghana's story and its people's lowered standards.

“We seem to have stagnated and gotten stuck at a certain point that something that probably was fun 50 or 60 years ago should not be fun at this time. But if people are still making movies where human beings are turning into snakes with very poor technology deployed and very poor effects deployed then it shows that there has not been much change, not only in the film industry but also in the appreciation of the consumers.”

“Where there are no people to appreciate something, that thing will not survive. It has to be changed to meet the desire of the people,” Pastor Otabil stated.

Thus, in his estimation, any elevation of the Ghanaian society will begin with a change in the individual preferences of citizens.

“The fundamental problem we have is our inability to change our taste, our inability to change what we desire, our inability to appreciate and that is the fundamental [problem]. If you don't change the fundamental appreciation in you, you will attract the same market over and over.”

He concluded the address using a football analogy to emphasise the fact that individuals defined the greatness of a team and not the brand itself.

“The players, they make the team. It is not the team that makes itself and if the people can self-transform then the team will be a great team. If even Ghana doesn't change, you must change,” Pastor Otabil said.