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188 Marleen de Witte

Mensa Otabil’s Living Word

As the founder and “general overseer” of the International Central Gospel
Church, with its 4,000-seat Christ Temple in Accra and over 100 branches
elsewhere, Mensa Otabil is a “big shot” in Ghana’s charismatic jet set. His
daily radio and weekly television broadcast Living Word made him widely
known as “the teacher of the nation.” The circulation of his tapes, videos,
VCDs, and books and his frequent travel across the globe have brought
him international fame as well.
Like most charismatic preachers worldwide, Otabil’s focus is on suc-
cess, achievement, self-development, personal improvement. Likewise,
“transformation” is a central concept in Otabil’s sermons, which are
broadcast and marketed as “life-transforming” messages. What is unique
to Otabil, however, is his understanding that transformation on a per-
sonal level is intimately connected to transformation on a cultural level
and on a political level and his application of this idea to the challenges
of Africa and Africans. He is well known for his special commitment to
the development of the country and the continent and to the “mental
liberation” of black people in the world. The recurring question around

Figure 8.1 Portrait of Mensa Otabil on the ICGC’s media department’s Web
site (www.altarmedia.com, 2006). Courtesy of the ICGC.