A private legal practitioner, Kwame Adofo, is contesting the logic in the Promotion of Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021, passed by Parliament Wednesday, February 28, 2024.
The bill which went through its third and final reading in Parliament yesterday, according to the lawyer, lacks wisdom, and shouldn’t have gone to Parliament in the first place.
He fears rather than seeking to curb the menace of LGBTQ, the draft bill will rather fester the activities of gays in Ghana, considering the fact that perpetrators of the act are going to be incarcerated and granted the free range to perpetuate their deeds in prison.
Speaking on Yen Nsempa, Onua FM’s morning show Thursday, February 29, 2024, the private legal practitioner told hosts Nana Yaa Brefo and JB that, inmates, upon release, leave behind collateral damage as they often return to society, “marry, and continue their lives”, inadvertently fostering a cycle of homosexuality within correctional facilities.
He held that insufficient deliberation preceded the bill’s enactment.
“Imagine placing a wealthy gay individual in prison, it essentially grants them a platform to influence vulnerable/hungry inmates. If you think through critically there is no wisdom in this bill that has been passed. There wasn’t enough thought process invested into passing this bill.
“This bill is a self-defeating bill. It should never have been passed. It should never have even been brought to Parliament to be ended up being passed. It’s just wrong. We’re multiplying gay people in our community,” he critiqued.
The lawyer’s comments come on the back of Ghana’s Parliament passing the anti-LGBTQI bill after successfully taking it through all three reading stages.
Meanwhile, some group of persons and Civil Society Organisations have asked President Akufo-Addo not to sign to the bill, threatening to contest it in court should it be assented by him.
Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, who is the lead sponsor for the bill, Samuel Nartey George, is alleging that one Professor Takyiwaa Manu who is part of the group, has said President Akufo-Addo is the one behind their opposition to bill because he says he does not support it.
By Felix Anim-Appau with additional files from Lois Dogbe
