Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt, has strongly discounted claims that he described renowned Man of God, Pastor Mensah Otabil as suffering from “high fever” for sensing in his spirit that calamity might befall Ghana if Christians do not pray to avert it.
Mr Pratt’s denial on PeaceFM, followed a question put to him by Kwami Sefa Kayi, host of the station’s flagship programme, “Kokrokoo”, whether indeed he diagnosed Pastor Mensa Otabil as suffering from ‘High Fever’ on AdomFM.
The General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) asked Ghanaians not to cease praying for the nation because of “a sense of heaviness” in his “spirit” regarding the country’s “destiny”.
“I have a sense of heaviness in my spirit concerning the destiny of this country that there is something heavy ready to fall upon this country that, if we don’t take charge of that we will be in a different state a month from now,” he stated in his sermon to the
congregation at Christ Temple on Sunday July 14, 2013.
Dr. Otabil thus called on Christians to learn from Elijah in the Bible, who prayed earnestly for the destiny of his country and made declarations, which came to pass, because he prayed and spoke with divine authority.
“We need to take note that Elijah was just like us and he came from Tishbi, which is a village not found on any map till date – but because he prayed earnestly he was able to make a declaration about the destiny of his country and his declaration shaped the destiny of his country,” he said.
On the back of that message, Dr. Otabil led his congregation in a passionate prayer for Ghana, after which he made even more passionate and positive declarations about the destiny of the country.
“We make these declarations – there shall be no civil war in Ghana…there will be no military takeover in Ghana…there will be no bloodshed in Ghana…there will be no coup d’état…there will be peace in Ghana…the land shall have peace and rest…there will be prosperity in Ghana…abundance in the name of Jesus,” the ICGC General Overseer declared.
The Senior Journalist is reported to have described the Pastor Otabil as suffering from the disease during a studio discussion on Thursday; a claim he vehemently denied.
According to Mr Pratt, the “if clause” in Dr. Mensa Otabil’s statement clearly indicates he is unsure of the prophecy and hiding behind that conditional clause, just like most prophets do.
He stressed that he is aware when people suffer from hay fever they have hallucinations thus it will be difficult to evaluate whether the prophesies are motivated by the ailment of the pastors or are genuine.
He noted that pastors are humans and they can “get sick” so there is no proof if a pastor, prophesying doom, has high fever or not.
Prior to the accusation, the Insight newspaper, in its Thursday 18th July edition, published in its editorial which partly read: “… he (Pastor Otabil) cannot be easily counted on as one of the citizens of Ghana who wishes the country well. He has joined the ranks of the mongers of coup and evil, praying hard for his prophecy to be fulfilled to enable him profit from his vocation as a man of God.”
But Mr Pratt asserts he only stressed the point that “not everybody believes in prophecy. Besides, medical doctors have indicated that if one is suffering from high fever, the person hallucinates or becomes delirious….But because I am not a doctor, I cannot determine if Otabil is having that symptom…strange things people say sometimes can be from high fever….”However, John Boadu, a Deputy Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Abu Ramadan, National Youth Organizer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), who were part of the panelists on “Kokrokoo” were adamant that Mr Pratt’s remarks were offensive and he must offer apologies to the renowned Pastor.
Abu Ramadan, in particular, was of the view that the Senior Journalist could have made his point without making those inferences.
“The pastors and men of God have come under vilification and attack for the last two three years from media communicators, least did I expect Kwesi Pratt to join them because this is a direct attack,” he indicated.
John Boadu, on his part, indicated that it is not healthy to make such comments. According to him, Kwesi Pratt has simply opened himself up for verbal vilification.
“…that statement you made was untoward…” he said.
But the Insight newspaper managing Editor would have none of it and questioned the temerity of the PNC National Youth Organiser to counsel him on the need to be guarded in his utterances.
He defiantly stood by his words stating that there was nothing to apologise for, adding that ‘anything a pastor will say must be taken with a pinch of salt…I have never said anywhere that Pastor Mensa Otabil is suffering from High Fever. I have never said so…what I said is being misconstrued.”
Source: Peacefmonline
