Religious leaders in Ghana have mounted a strong defence in support of the passage a comprehensive anti-LGBT+ bill currently before Parliament.
Although the clergy have always been firmly behind the passage of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill behind the scenes, they have been compelled to reinforce their activism for the bill publicly following surprise advocacy by 18 of some of Ghana’s influential lawyers and academics against the passage of the bill.
Presenting a memo in support of the bill to the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament on Wednesday, October 6, Chairman of Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, called for immediate action to safeguard the future of the country.
He called the movement against the passage of the bill that seeks to criminalise aspects of LGBT+ activities and discourage same sex marriage in Ghana as an insult to the Creator.
“This movement is an insult to the intelligence of God, the Creator. You are just trying to tell God that ‘you didn’t think enough. This is how it should have been.’ And if you have a society where there are no absolutes, soon there will be no law. We have lawyers who are arguing for all these [human rights]. The matter on the floor is not about rights. It is about morality.
“So the Church of Pentecost, with a population of over 3,196,605, is supporting this bill that is before the floor of Parliament,” he said.
He wants the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, to immediately “shut the door” to activities of members of the LGBTQI+ community in the country.
Other leaders from the Methodist Church, Apostolic Church, and Christian Council took turns to address the gathering as they presented their own memos in support of the passage of the bill.
The Catholic Church has on numerous occasions spoken against LGBT+ activities and has stated its firm support for the passage of the bill.
The Deputy Clerk to Ghana’s Parliament in Charge of Administration and Finance Eric Owusu-Mensah who received the memoranda disclosed that over 100 inputs from across the world have been received already.
But a group made up of academics, lawyers, researchers, civil society organisations (CSOs) and human rights activists has kicked against it. They describe the bill as a flagrant violation of the 1992 Constitution, as it seeks to curtail freedom of expression and the media, the right to assemble and the right to join any association of one’s choice.
According to the group, aspects of the bill erode fundamental human rights, as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution, and send Ghana to the dark ages of lawlessness and intolerance.
The group, made up of 18 members, has already submitted a 30-page memorandum to Parliament, detailing what it described as the unconstitutionality of the bill.
Members of the group opposing the anti-gay bill are; include lawyer Mr Akoto Ampaw; author, scholar and former Director of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Prof. Emerita Takyiwaa Manuh; a communications and media expert, Prof. Kwame Karikari; the Dean of the University of Ghana (Legon) School of Law, Prof. Raymond Atuguba, and the Dean of the University of Ghana School of Information and Communication Studies, Prof. Audrey Gadzekpo.
The Director of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Professor Dzodzi Tsikata; the Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, and a former Executive Director of CDD-Ghana, Prof. Kofi Gyimah-Boadi, are also members of the group.
Others are Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, Dr Yao Graham, Mr Kwasi Adu Amankwah, Dr Kojo Asante, Mr Kingsley Ofei-Nkansah, Mr Akunu Dake, Mr Tetteh Hormeku-Ajie, Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, Dr Joseph Asunka and Nana Ama Agyemang Asante.
