Founder and General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Mensa Otabil says he has stopped talking about Ghanaian dishes since he got into trouble for talking about fufu.

The dish, which is prepared with either cooked cassava and plantain, yam or cocoyam usually requires two people.

Pastor Otabil, in February last year made the airwaves when he described the process involved in the preparation as unnecessarily stressful and unhygienic.

“Any food that if you have to eat you'll have to punish yourself like this, what's the sense in it? And the annoying thing is when you're pounding, the sweat will be going in and will be mixed. Even in the mortar, there are all kinds of bacteria in the corners, this is an ecosystem for bacteria, 5 years and we are still pounding and people will say, that's what we like."

His assertion got him a lot of public backlash with many coming out to criticize the motive behind the statement. While some demanded an apology from the pastor for demeaning one of the country’s most popular and well patronized dish, others seem to be in support of his logic.

But speaking at the “2018 Springboard Global Convocation” held in Accra today, Dr. Otabil said he has learnt his lesson not to talk about foods that people are passionate about.

“I once got into trouble for talking about fufu. Now, I know people have passion when it comes to their food, especially fufu so when you say anything negative about it, it’s as if you have dropped an atomic bomb on their precious carbohydrate. So I’m not going to talk about it again. You can eat all you want,” he added.



This year’s springboard global convocation was under the theme: ‘Leveraging strategy and technology’. It also had ministers like Rev. Mrs. Patricia Sappor, Akesse Brempong, Mr. Eli Hini and Mr and Mrs. Ocran imparting knowledge to the participants on how to develop personal growth, by combining strategy and technology to create wealth.