Accra, May 26, - In very strong
language laced with banter, Parliament on Thursday minced no words to express
disgust, revulsion and angst against attempts by people, backed by some foreign
elements to legalise sodomy in Ghana.
Earlier at separate fora, Prof
Aaron Michael Oquaye, the Speaker of the House, and Second Deputy Speaker Alban
Sumana Bagbin had registered their position, that, under no circumstance would
they countenance and endorse any attempts to legalise the practice, which the
MPs said was debasing and below the behaviour of animals.
Speaker Oquaye had threatened to
resign his position, and Mr Bagbin vowed to kick against any attempts by
foreign countries to impose homosexuality on Ghanaians.
“If anybody should bring such a
thing to parliament and I have to preside over that, I'd rather resign than
subscribe to this delusion,” Prof Oquaye had said.
The disgust of the entire House
stemmed from comments from British Prime Minister Theresa May, at the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London last April, urging
Commonwealth countries to bring to an end a legacy of anti-homosexual
discrimination, blaming Britain's history of colonialism for criminalising
same-sex relationships.
The Prime Minister had said that
the UK would support member states which sought to reform "outdated"
legislation affecting the relationships, or failed to protect women and girls.
Gay and lesbian rights
campaigners urged Ms May to intervene over the legislation affecting lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender people, as same sex relations were still illegal
in 36 Commonwealth countries.
The Prime Minister indicated
further that the U.K. was ready to help Commonwealth nations to repeal anti-gay
laws and embrace homosexuality.
The comment attracted wide condemnation
among Ghanaians, among which the Presidency issued a statement to the effect
that it will not be under the Presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that
same-sex marriage will be legalised in Ghana.
And on Tuesday, May 22, 2018, the
plenary of the House re-visited the issue, with both the Majority and Minority
Sides stating in clear terms their avowed disinterest to endorse legislation in
favour of the practice of homosexuality and lesbianism.
Three MPs from both Sides of
Ghana’s Parliament- Dr Bernard Okoe, from the Majority Side of the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) and MP for Ledzokuku Constituency; Mr Emmanuel Bedzrah,
President of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship and MP for Ho West, and Rev
Helen Adzoa Ntoso, MP for Krachi West from the Minority Side of the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) made statements on homosexuality and lesbianism,
which exposed the negative health
consequences of the practice, mental issues and increased suicidal attempts.
According Dr Boye, recent reports
by the National AIDS Commission showed a rise of 70.15 per cent in HIV
prevalence rate, and attributed the increase a rise in the practice of
homosexuality and lesbianism.
“Mr Speaker, the medical
narrative given so far shows a strong negative correlation between
homosexuality and health outcomes,” the MP, a medical doctor, drew the
attention of the House that the practice offended the cultural and religious
values of the land.
In their joint statement, Mr
Bedzrah and Rev Ntoso noted that “this is not the first time the issue if LBGT
was raised and Presidents both past and present have been called upon to state
the position of the State.
“But recent trajectories and
continuous call on us as a State to indicate our position on the matter,
appeared to us as calculated attempt to promote or pressurise the Government to
accept what otherwise is alien and unacceptable to us as Ghanaians and a
sovereign nation to build a prosperous society.
“Mr Speaker, the position of
Ghana on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) is a common knowledge
and explicitly stated in our statutes. And one wonders why the question keeps
popping up. We find such questions as an attempt to undermine our God given
ability to decipher what is right or wrong to us as Ghanaians and to a large
extent as Africans.”
In her contribution to the
statements, Ms Laadi Ayii Ayamba, the Ranking Member of the Gender and Children
Committee, and MP for Pusiga Constituency in the Upper East Region, informed
the House of an approach made to her and some colleague legislators to lobby
them to support legislation in favour of homosexuality and lesbianism.
She said at a forum in which she
and Ms Sarah Adwoa Safo, Deputy Majority Leader participated, the issue about
LGBT was raised and they were asked if they could help fight for the rights of
lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender.
“I, in particular, made them
understand that for us we will be discussing and taking it up but they should
come and sit in the public gallery and declare that they are the gay people in
Ghana and also present the matter to Mr. Speaker and hear what they will say.
Believe me or not, it brought the discussion to an end. As for Hon Adwoa she
simply said ‘my father will slaughter me’.”
Ms Ayamba said: “It is horrible,
not acceptable and I think that we in this House should be the first people to
come out to put it right to anybody that is coming out with whatever they want
to call it that we will not take it, we represent the people of Ghana, we
represent our constituents [and] we would not have been here if men were
marrying men or women marrying women.”
“..Mr Speaker, let us urge our
educational institutions to talk against this particular issue,” she stressed.
Minority Chief Whip Mohammed
Mubarak Muntaka said that MPs would forge a united front and against any bill
that would seek to legalise homosexuality in the country.
He said the Speaker should stay
in office, rather than resigning should such gay rights bill come before the
House, so that the entire Parliament-Speakership, Leadership and Membership-
would unitedly reject the legislation.
He called the practice and the
pushing of legislation for its support “madness”.
Alhaji Muntaka wondered why the
practice of sodomy could be called a right, saying “it is not right issue, but
a “left” issue, and asked further if people would advocate the sniffing of
cocaine and murder and call them rights issue since people engaged in those bad
practices.
“Our country will not tolerate it
in any form it will come,” he cautioned.
“Many of us who are strongly
against this madness will definitely stay in the house and fight to throw the
supposed bill away, he said, and called on African leaders to tell their
Western counterparts, right there and in their face, without mincing words, when
they meet at international fora that homosexuality offends African values.
Mr Matthew Nyindam, the First
Deputy Majority Chief Whip said it was totally against African cultural values
for a man to have sex with a man.
“God created Adam and Eve for a purpose
– that is for procreation and normal sex enjoyment – so people who practice
homosexuality must have some mental and spiritual problems, and should be
delivered,” he said.”
Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Sadiq,
Inner City and Zongo Development Minister and MP for Madina, queried the
proponents of sodomy if they had ever seen a cock mounting a cock or a hen
mating a hen.
“We must be connected by the
opposite sex, not same sex,” he said, adding, unnatural practices could be
practised elsewhere, but not in Ghana.
Mr Bagbin, who was in the
Speaker’s chair, in a contribution, said the nation would not compromise on its
position and would not allow itself to be dictated to by the West.
“We are no longer the small boys
and girls of any country,” Mr Bagbin said.
GNA
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