The founder of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Dr. Mensa Otabil, has indicated that African countries, including Ghana, are not making any significant strides in their developmental process, not because of a lack of vision.
According to him, the main challenge for Ghana and other African countries is their inability to enforce their laws.
Mensa Otabil, who made these remarks in a video of his speech at The Platform Nigeria’s Africa Rising Continent Nigeria's Strategic Role, shared by his church on October 11, 2023, cited the example of how the founding Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, enacted and enforced strict laws to transform the country.
He added that Ghana, for example, had a plan to transform the country by 2020, dubbed ‘Vision 2020’, but nothing significant was seen when the time came.
“When you read Lee Kuan Yew’s book, he would tell you it was law and order; that was the prime level they started with. People had to live sanitary lives; you don’t keep pigs in your home.
“They had to stop spitting in public, all of that. He had to force them into a structured world. That is why now, if you go to Singapore and chew gum and drop it, your life is on the line,” Mensa Otabil said.
He added, “We praise these nations, but living in those systems is not as simple as we wish it would be. We are seeing what is happening in Rwanda; what is the main factor of transformation? It is not vision; everybody has a vision; everybody has plans; you’ve had plans. We have had one, the Vision 2020, and it (2020) came and we saw nothing. The missing ingredient is that we are not able to enforce the laws of our nations.
Watch Otabil’s remarks in the video below: