General overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) has beseeched President John Dramani Mahama to speak to Members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who are bent on soiling his �hard earned reputation�.
His plea comes on the heels of the recent brouhaha over some released tapes that captures his (Otabil's) voice of purportedly condemning the Free Senior High School policy of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The highly renowned and respected man of God, has for a while now, been the subject of media discussion for saying that education can never be free in Ghana.
An Associate Pastor of ICGC, Rev. Kofi Okyere, however issued a statement on behalf of the church pointing out that the said tape is about a decade old. According to him, it is �a collection of thoughts edited from a message shared more than a decade ago" and pieced together to create the impression that Pastor Otabil is taking a stand on the current political debate on the issue of education.
Days after the issuance of that statement, the Informer, a newspaper aligned to the ruling government, claimed it has in its possession a recording that was done as recently as October 23, 2012, "on which Otabil is heard clearly making mockery of Nana Akufo-Addo�s gargantuan Free SHS bunkum".
A plethora of media reports, triggered by several tape recordings have suggested that the respected preacher is against the policy proposition which has become a major political issue.
The last straw, perhaps, that broke the camel's back, is the running of NDC radio campaign commercials with the voice of Pastor Otabil in the background 'denouncing' free education.
Clearly unenthused that statements he made in the past have been deliberately pieced together to create the impression that he has taken a stand on the current political debate on the issue of free education, Pastor Otabil urged the president to �rise up and speak� against the manipulation of his sermons for political gains because �the perpetrators of these blatant acts of impunity are largely affiliates and surrogates of your party.�
According to him, he decided to clarify the misrepresentations of his sermons and also to stop the harassment against his integrity because he realized he was dealing with a �bullying and marauding force� whereby keeping quiet was like allowing evil to triumph.
At a press conference he addressed on Monday, Pastor Otabil said; �Today I come [as] a simple pastor. I do not have the machinery of State behind me, I do not have a police force or military detachment to defend me, I do not have serial callers or a media machinery to spin my story, all I have is the God whom I have served over the years, he is my strength and my fortress and it is to him that I commend this matter.�
�Let me state clearly that the sound bites that have been played with my voice have been taken totally out of context. In some cases, phrases from different messages I have preached over the years with no relation to each other have been mischievously pieced together to create the impression that I was making a current contribution to the on-going political debate�.
�This is defamatory, this is unethical, this is criminal, this is malicious, it is Machiavellian and it is evil. It is a violation of grave impunity for any individual to seize a person�s thoughts without their consent and use it in a way that seeks to expose them to public hostility and disrespect.
"When a political operatives sample, splice and edit a pastor�s words to mean something other than what was intended, and then go ahead to lift those words from their proper context and place them within a partisan context�that is immoral".
"Partisan Politics"
�When I speak to encourage people, I speak through the core of my being; my messages speak to Christians of all shades, Muslims and a large segment of people who belong to different belief systems.
"I have endeavoured to be a bridge builder. My church has active members with all shades of political opinion; they have comfortably sat under my ministry over the years because as a guide I have stridden to use the pulpit of the church for the preaching of the Gospel of Christ and the upliftment of my hearers.�
�My pulpit is not for partisan politics,� Pastor Otabil said.
Source: Rebecca Addo-Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com
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