Pastor Otabil Sets The Record Straight

Peacefmonline.com can confirm that General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Mensa Otabil, will on Monday, November 12th, 'clear the air' on his alleged position on flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo Addo�s free Senior High School policy. Pastor Otabil made this known to his congregation on Sunday. According to Pastor Otabil, often when his name comes up in the media about an issue, he keeps quiet and lets it go. However, this time; he needs to set the records straight. The renowned man of God courted controversy recently when he was caught on tape saying education can never be free and those who believe in such promises that fees will be free, do not understand what goes into the payment of such fees by parents. But an Associate Pastor of ICGC, Rev. Kofi Okyere, in a statement on behalf of the church, pointed 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". According to the publication, Pastor Otabil, preaching the 5th in a series he has themed �Wholesome Living�, touched on wide range of issues; including the need for parents to Endeavour to give their children more and better opportunities than they (the parents) had, when growing up. The newspaper claimed that on the issue of giving children the best of opportunities, Pastor Otabil reportedly said that if Ghanaians make a mistake and vote for free education, they will pay a very high price for it and "will regret the kind of watery knowledge that their children will acquire" �These days they say education will be free� Ha! Ha! Ha! The free one, the free one, ha! Ha! the free one, free is good but I think that if you really want to give your children education you are going to pay, you will pay: �Ha! Ha! Ha!�...You will have to pay for the education of your children otherwise the kind of knowledge they will bring home to you �ha! Ha! Ha!�I don�t think a man should say, I can now produce more children because of free education. You have to be more responsible and have to go the extra mile for your children: that is the least you can do�, a fired-up Mensah Otabil said according to the Informer. It is unclear if Monday's scheduled press conference will focus on the contents of the first or second tape. Peacefmonline sources say the press conference might be held at Christ Temple, Abossey Okai, which also happens to be the headquarters of ICGC.