Ghana’s Pastor Otabil Condemns Sexual Misconduct In Churches

Influential Ghanaian personality and founder of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) Pastor Mensa Otabil has openly scorned African pastors who engage in sexual misconduct with female congregants. During a June 12 sermon on generational leadership, the outspoken man of God described such pastors as bad leaders not worth emulating:

“When a man says he’s a man of God and he’s sleeping with all the women in the church, we cannot tolerate it, you cannot say he’s anointed, but that’s his problem, that problem is the main problem, it’s a huge one, don’t excuse it and don’t accept it, otherwise you will impose on yourself a generational leader, who will brand you for life, you have to determine what you accept, not every behavior is acceptable, especially when the leader is wrong, but can’t accept it and won’t repent from it,” Pastor Otabil stated.

The scourge of sexual misconduct especially among charismatic churches continue to be a matter of grave concern. Earlier, Face2Face Africa shared reports by the Nigerian media about the arrest of a 46-year-old pastor, Ifeanyi Bernard, for raping a 13-year-old girl in Karu Local Government Area.

According to police, the controversial pastor lured his victim into his house under the pretext of casting out demons from her. As soon as she was in his house, he allegedly pushed her on to his bed and raped her repeatedly.

“I had been into evangelism for some years now and I have been casting out demons from people who have spiritual and family problems before I met this young girl through her father, Mr. Martins Ijiwo. I have been a friend of the family for quite some time. I used my anointing oil to lure her into my room and all of a sudden, I was carried away and before I knew what was happening, I saw myself making love to her,” the pastor confessed before a group of reporters.

Meanwhile in East Africa, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta is calling for government regulation to hold what he has termed “bogus churches” strictly accountable for any inappropriate act.