The General Overseer of the Action Chapel International (ACI), Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, has cautioned Christians against chastising the founder of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Mensa Otabil, over his role in the collapse of defunct Capital Bank.
According to him, Christians must “shut their mouth” since they may not have an understanding of the issue at stake.
A report which emerged a year after Capital Bank was collapsed and taken over by GCB Bank, indicated that the then-Board Chair, Pastor Mensa Otabil may have been a party to the misuse of liquidity support given the bank by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
The report cites an emergency board and Executive Committee meeting on October 13, 2015, which notes concern with the manner in which the GHc 610 million liquidity support to the struggling bank was being used.
Instead of using the money the central bank gave Capital Bank as liquidity support for the bank’s business, the management with the approval of the Board Chair, diverted the money for other uses, leading to the eventual collapse of the Capital Bank in August 2017.
The monies were moved by a member of the Board, Ato Essien into companies believed to be owned by him and others on the money. Some of that money was reportedly presented as capital to secure a license for another collapsed bank, Sovereign Bank.
Some have since called for the prosecution of Mensa Otabil but Archbishop Duncan-Williams has said Christians must not join the ‘world’ to ‘crucify’ Pastor Otabil.
“I heard about the situation with Dr. Mensa Otabil [but ] I want to caution every Christian, shut your mouth…. The Bible says judge not, that you may not be judged. So shut your mouth. Stop talking about things you don’t understand… Somebody asked me, what do you think, I said I don’t think anything, I don’t understand, I don’t know the details,” he said.
“Don’t talk… Christians, you talk too much. I’m saying that to Christians. As for unbelievers and the heathens, they have the right to talk, their day will come, but for us, Christians, we are under God’s constitution, we do not judge and we don’t judge our own. Let the world talk and let the world judge, but you don’t join the world to crucify your brother,” he added.
While the leadership and members of Otabil’s Church have declared solidarity, he has also sought to give an explanation of his role in the development.
In his first official statement on the controversy, Otabil said his role as the chairman of the bank’s board was a non-executive one hence he was not involved in the daily management and operations of the bank.
My position was a non-executive role. I was therefore not involved in the day-to-day management and operations of the Bank. In the course of time, some decisions made turned out well while some did not turn out as well as had been anticipated. As far as I can tell, everything was done with the best of intentions and the interest of various stakeholders in mind,” his statement said.
In a subsequent public utterance, while leading his Church during a Sunday service, Otabil said he felt he owed it a responsibility to tell them about what happened so they could tell critics and persons who ask for clarifications.
He admonished members of his church not to fight people who confront them with questions regarding the collapse of the bank but respond with the saying that “God is good.”
“I felt that as your pastor, I owe you an explanation, to come to church and to make a statement of what my views are, so that when you go out and people come out with information, you will have a response to give to them,” he said.
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Source : Citinewsroom.com
