Former National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie Blay, has advised President Nana Akufo-Addo not to assent to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill before his government’s term ends.
Mr. Blay believes the bill is unnecessary and may lead to sanctions from development partners.
The anti-LGBTQ+ bill, also known as the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, has been a subject of intense debate.
It seeks to criminalize activities associated with LGBTQI advocacy and impose penalties on individuals promoting or funding pro-LGBTQI activities.
In an interview on GHOne TV’s Hard Talk, Mr. Blay stated that the LGBTQ+ issue has not been a significant problem in Ghana, and the country’s laws already cater to it.
He argued that assenting to the bill could lead to sanctions from development partners, which would harm Ghana’s economy.
Blay suggested that the President-elect, John Mahama, should handle the bill instead, as its advocates are from his side.
He emphasised that if he were the president, he would not assent to the bill due to the potential consequences.
Mr. Blay said, “I don’t agree that they should assent it now. To me, my position on LGBT is that it was unnecessary, it has not been a big problem in this country. We have strong cultures, sub-cultures, we have individuals who may step out of line over some strong beliefs here and there. But the laws of this country adequately cater for it. So, this LGBTQ has been championed by some people who had previously dismissed it. And now they have now championed it and it’s come to this far. To me, it makes no difference if they were involved in it, who championed it, now many of them are in power, many of them have come to Parliament. Let them push it, it will take a few weeks and then it will be brought back again and then let the new president assent to it.”
He added, “If I were an Akufo-Addo, I wouldn’t do that because our development partners and co. have indicated clearly that they think it’s an abuse of human rights. For that reason, if you go ahead to assent to it, they may apply certain sanctions and withdraw or withhold some assistance that they have to give to this country. I take it very seriously. Those assistance if they don’t come, if IMF doesn’t give us the help that we need because they think it’s an affront to human rights and so forth, we stand to lose. We stand to have created for ourselves and our economy serious problems.”
Hamdia
