NPP MP Fears Anti-LGBTQ Will Hurt Akufo-Addo Gov’t
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, has expressed suspicions about the timing and purpose of an anti-LGBTQ bill championed by mostly members of the Minority in Parliament.
The bill, which has been named the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill (2021), is chiefly sponsored by Sam Nartey George, the MP for Ningo-Prampram and a member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that makes up the Minority in Parliament.
The bill was presented to the Speaker a few weeks ago and is yet to be laid before the house for first reading after which the Speaker would refer the legislative proposal to a committee.
But the bill was leaked to the general public at the end of last week, provoking frantic debates on radio and on social media platforms.
Speaking in a TV interview on Monday, July 26, Assafuah argued that the members of the Minority were bringing to the fore a non-issue since the Criminal Offences Act already dealt with what is seen as sexual crimes.
Assafuah explained that alternatively, Minority members could invest their time into developmental issues and focus on the matter of getting Ghana back on its feet during this pandemic.
The first-time MP fears that the anti-LGBTQ agenda led by the Ningo-Prampram MP will make things hard for the executive to raise the monies Ghana needs on the international markets as well as encourage investments.
Assafuah said:
Just last week, Parliament had to approve a loan of about $200 million just for the impact of Covid or if you like, buy vaccines and what have you. These are monies that are coming from a certain source, the source as we are all aware, have been championing the cause of LGBTQ for a number of years, as we are all aware. Now, if the source at a point gets jittery because the people they are trying to help are not buying into their philosophy, it is going to have dire consequences on us as a nation.
But the MP’s sentiments seem to be shared by another member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Otchere-Darko, who tweeted over the weekend:
Gay+ activities are already illegal in our country. But, we aren’t known to hate. The President has given his word he won’t legalise it. This Bill only serves one purpose: to get Ghana blacklisted for promoting hate! Surely, the promoters of the Bill can’t say they aren’t aware!
The controversial bill holds severe punitive ramifications for those who are accused of belonging to the LGBTQ+ spectrum. Members and advocates of the community could be sentenced to 10-year imprisonment.