Ningo Prampram legislator, Samuel Nartey George, has expressed his disappointment with the National Peace Council for saying it has taken no sides on the Anti-Gay bill recently passed by Parliament.
According to the lawmaker, the decision of the Council not to choose a side on the development is an act of hypocrisy.
He has described the organization as one of Ghana’s biggest problems whose posture on issues such as the Anti-LGBTQ bill shows how political the Peace Council has become.
The MP’s comments come on the back of the Council’s decision not to take a stance on the matter due to their role as mediators.
The lead sponsor of the Anti-Gay bill, Samuel Nartey George, was speaking with Johnnie Hughes on 3FM’s SunRise on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, when he made those remarks.
“The Peace Council is a disgrace and a shame. I’ve said this before and I will say it again. The Peace Council is one of the biggest problems of this country. They are hypocrites, extremely hypocritical. You’ve seen the posture of the Peace Council; the Peace Council has become a political organization. It should be disbanded for the sanctity of Ghana’s peace.”
He went on to describe the organisation as a threat to Ghana’s peace, likening the persons on the Council to the Biblical Esau who sold his birthright for his stomach.
“The Peace Council is a threat to our peace as a country. It’s a bunch of hypocrites who have sold their conscience like the way Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of porridge. The men and women who [are] on the Peace Council, if they have conscience and if they fear the God that they say they serve and worship, they should bow their heads in shame,” he noted.
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Background
Sam George was reacting to a statement the Council’s Chair made on TV3.
Speaking on Hot Issues with sit-in host, Alfred Ocansey Sunday, March 03, 2024, Chairman of the Council, Rev. Dr. Ernest Adu Gyamfi noted that the Council cannot take sides on such issues knowing the possibility of a future adjudication on the matter between different parties.
He said the National Peace Council is waiting to see how things will unfold in relation to the bill.
“We don’t have a position on the passage of the Anti-LGBTQ bill because we are mediators, we don’t take sides on issues like this.
“There are several issues that have come to us that people expected us to take sides, but realised it was important to remain neutral when they later came for conflict resolution. We are waiting to see how things will unfold, so we know if to mediate/intervene in the event of a conflict,” he indicated.
The above reaction from the Council Chair is what Sam George thinks is an act of hypocrisy.
The Anti-Gay Bill proscribes LGBTQ activities and criminalises its promotion, advocacy and funding in Ghana.
It subjects persons caught in the act to 6 months to 3 year jail term with promoters and sponsors of the act bearing a 3 to 5 year jail term.
