The failure of President John Dramani Mahama to rein in his operatives, functionaries and executives of the National Democratic Congress from raining insults and invectives at the General Overseer of the International Gospel Church appears to have left many people wondering if the president has okayed the attacks and sees nothing wrong with them.

Members of the NDC consistently attacked a section of the clergy in the run up to the December 2012 elections over certain views they held about development in the country.

Sources at the headquarters of the NDC have hinted the New Statesman the failure of President Mahama to show leadership and order his cohorts to desist from attacking Dr Mensa Otabil does not bode well for the party.

The source wondered what Dr Mensa Otabil had done wrong to receive such a barrage of insults from the ruling party, adding that it was not wrong for a pastor to ask his congregation to pray to avert a looming disaster waiting to happen in the nation.

“Must we be the only party that is always seen to be attacking the clergy? The president, as leader of our party, must step in and tell those attacking Dr Otabil to stop. But, what have we seen? Absolutely, nothing,” our source lamented.

It added that it was this failure on the party of the president to show leadership that had led to the deepening of the cracks within the NDC, with many leading party members allegedly describing the situation as “unacceptable.”

“As we have seen from the happenings at the Supreme Court, the judges read the papers, listen to the radio and watch television. Don’t you think they know and will brand us as a party which attacks the judiciary, the clergy and anyone? Don’t you think they will look at all of this and rule in favour of the NPP in this court case?” the source asked.

In a related development, Director of Operations for the Alliance for Accountable Governance, Davis Opoku, has strongly castigated the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., and former Head of Policy Monitoring and Evaluation at the Presidency, Tony Aidoo, for insulting and not showing enough respect to Dr Mensa Otabil.

“If Dr Mensa Otabil has seen evil befalling the nation and had prayed about it with his church to avert the calamity, of which Kwesi Pratt and Tony Aidoo have rained insults on him, then they will suffer; their end in life will be miserable and all Ghanaians will see,” he stated during a radio interview.

The AFAG man fumed at the fact that because the two personalities have the privilege to sit on radio to express their views, it does not mean that they can suppress the beliefs of others. He noted that the Muslims, Christians and the Traditionalists believe in prophecies, and so any attack and insults on men of God means that they have attacked and insulted a large chunk of the population of Ghana.

Davis Opoku reminded the duo that Ghana’s population constitutes about 64% of Christians and so whenever they insult religious leaders, a large number of Ghanaians will descend on them with similar insults and attacks.

“If I were the NDC, I would go to Dr Mensa Otabil and find out from him how he has been able to manage his church and established Banks and a University in the country,” he stated.

He urged Ghanaians to accept a church whose activities directly promote the development of the country, adding that Dr Mensa Otabil is a pastor who has won the admiration and respect of many Ghanaians due to his adorable calibre and teachings.