PRESS STATEMENT: Dr. Otabil Is Right – It Is In Our Collective Interest To Agree With Him

November 11, 2012

The Forum for Governance and Justice (FGJ) fully associates itself with comments attributed to Dr. Mensa Otabil regarding an apparent condemnation of the Death Is Death or All Die Be Die attitude in a sermon he delivered.

Regardless of the date and or the context of the sermon in which he admonished against the dangers of all die be die, we believe that as a recognised leader of moral society in Ghana, his position on this sadistic saying is timeless and will always remain relevant.

Rather than speculate or condemn the motivation and intention of the man of God, we wish to call on all youth groups, religious bodies and groupings, workers groups, civil society organisations, political parties, traditional rulers and all identifiable bodies to support this pronouncement.

As a nation that has several challenges and professes to be religious, we can not simply pretend that a man of God did not say: “They believe that the action is good by itself because after all, all die be die” and added that “For those of you who are not familiar with Pidgin English that means all death is death. All die be die. After all six feet at last. After all we will die and leave here”.

Indeed, it is the position of the FGJ that we must join in condemning the all die be die attitude because it is a contributory factor to the many challenges we face in our society. For instance, if people act because they believe all die be die, then why will they not be corrupt? As well, this attitude leads to bad habits such as ‘cutting corners’ or not following proper procedures and processes, resulting in deadly consequences such as the collapse of the Melcom Building.

It is for the above reasons that we fail to understand why anyone will disagree with the man of God when he notes, “People who talk like that (all die be die), the Bible says, they say; 'let's eat and drink for tomorrow we die.' And it says for such people, be careful of them because bad company will destroy all the good habits you have”.

We conclude by calling on all the good people of Ghana to heed this admonishment.

Signed Dr. Clement Apaak Convener, Forum for Governance and Justice - Ghana 020 011 7620