The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has declared that in principle no MP is against the much-talked-about anti-LGBTQI Bill before Parliament.
Speaking at a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday (12 October), the MP for Suame said: “In principle, I am not sure any Member of Parliament will be against the principle of this bill.
“I am an African, I am a Ghanaian, an Ashanti, Kwabre man and I have my own values. I have my own upbringing, one that is shaped by my tradition and upbringing,” Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said.
“As I have said along the line, I am Christian, I was born into the Assemblies of God church, so my faith also impacts on my upbringing. But that is not the only thing that shapes my upbringing.”
He added: “That is why I am saying, and I refer to the first provision in Chapter 11 of the constitution, which is Article 125, when it says that justice emanates from the people.
“We have our concept of what is right and what is wrong, I don’t know of any ethnic group of this country that will applaud this [the practice of homosexuality].”
Violation of human rights
A group of 18 prominent Ghanaian citizens has rejected the anti-gay bill in Parliament, saying it constitutes an “impermissible invasion of the inviolability and human dignity” of the LGBTQI community.
The first reading of the anti-LGBTQI Bill took place on 2 August 2021 in Parliament, and its consideration is expected to resume in October 2021.
It was initiated by some six MPs, led by the opposition MP Sam George. The new law seeks to criminalise lesbianism and sex between men in Ghana.
The group of prominent citizens, led by the renowned legal practitioner Akoto Ampaw, said the anti-LGBTQI Bill “violates all the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the 1992 constitution”. The group said that, if passed into law, the proposed legislation would send Ghana to a dark age of lawlessness.
“The bill violates virtually all the key fundamental freedoms guaranteed under the constitution, namely the right to freedom of speech and expression, the right to assemble, freedom of association and the right to organise, the right to freedom from discrimination and the right to human dignity,” Ampaw said at a press conference on Monday (4 October).
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