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General News of Monday, 12 November 2012

Source: radioxyzonline.com

Mahama must call his "evil" followers to order - Otabil

The General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) has made a strong call on President John Mahama to quickly act on some "evil" members of his party who have deliberately set out to tarnish his image.

Dr. Mensa Otabil stated that he was appealing to President Mahama to speak to his people because “the perpetrators of these blatant acts of impunity are largely affiliates and surrogates of your party.”

According to Dr. Mensa Otabil, some audio tapes being played on various media platforms are statements he made in the past and 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 being promised by the NPP.

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.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Dr. Mensa Otabil condemned people he referred to as "surrogates and affiliate" of the NDC who have taken his statements out of context for political gains.

“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 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".

According to Dr. Otabil, he decided not to comment on the raging issue but decided to come out when he realized he was dealing with a “bullying and marauding force” adding that keeping quiet was like allowing evil to triumph.