Each day, the clock ticks down to the resumption of Ghana’s Parliament from recess to pass a new law which shall not only criminalize all forms of LGBT activities in the country but would in addition, throw into jail journalists and media owners who publish pro-LGBT news and persons found to be allies of same-sex relationships.

Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo has remained rather unclear on his exact stance on the Bill and has equally fallen short of coming clear whether or not he would assent his signature to the Bill to finalize its passage into law for it to be Gazetted.

Recently, when the United States Vice President Kamala Harris visited Ghana and the question of whether the country has laws that criminalize sexual rights came up, what Nana Akufo-Addo said was “We don’t have any such legislation here in Ghana”. He was right but he did not add that Parliament is indeed armed to the teeth and ready to pass such a law without any form of restraint.

The President did not add that the said law, when passed would not only target the LGBT community but would jail media owners and journalists who speak in favour of LGBT persons. He did not add that even property owners who rent out their facilities to LGBT persons and their allies risk jail terms.

The President ‘sweet-talked’ Kamala Harris and the international media without making clear in direct and simple language about the actual practical situation in Ghana.

Nana Akufo-Addo simply said it was “a private Member’s Bill this is not an official legislation of the Government but it is one that has been mooted by a handful of private Members,”, but the President did not tell Kamala Harris that the “private Members” pushing for the passage of the Bill include key appointees of his Government plus Members of Parliament from his party and that his Government has not distanced itself from the said appointees.

Nana Akufo-Addo’s ambiguity is understandable. He is a globally renowned Human Rights lawyer who does not lack an appreciation of the current globally accepted definition and standards of human rights. In his home country Ghana, Akufo-Addo has been celebrated for being the brainchild behind the brilliant landmark abolishment of the criminal libel and sedition laws which was used to incarcerate journalists over their editorial stance once upon a time in Ghana.

The Bill, mostly known as the anti-LGBT Bill, currently before Ghana’s Parliament, is a rather popular one as Ghanaians by their customs, traditions and values, do not countenance homosexual activities.

A key factor that has enhanced public support for the anti-LGBT Bill, officially known as the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights And Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021, is the fact that though Ghana is a secular state by law, an overwhelming majority of its citizens are either Christians or Muslims, two religions which abhor same-sex relationships.
Even the Traditional African Religion sects, which constitute a negligible minority of the population, do not support anything LGBT.

The President is in an apparent dilemma on how to respect the feelings of a majority of his people and still remain sensitive to Human Rights issues.

Source: MyNewsGh.com