Veteran Ghanaian legal practitioner and member of the Council of State, Sam Okudzeto, has underscored the need for the country to reject the Anti-LGBT+ Bill that awaits presidential assent to become a law.
He argued that there are more pressing issues that ought to be addressed by the state to improve lives, and not the sexual lives of certain individuals or their sexual preferences.
He indicated that passing the bill into law will not make any difference with regards to the major debacles confronting the country, including corruption and the dwindling fortunes of the economy.
The Council of State member criticized the churches and various religious bodies that are mounting pressure on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to sign the bill, stating that they should focus on dealing with the sins listed in the Bible first.
"We have even tried to induce the churches; they are all running around calling on the president to sign the bill. All the sins listed in the Bible, what have they been doing about it? LGBT+ is the only one they have seen? We talk about corruption; corruption - from the messenger to the top, every one of us is involved in corruption.
"When a man and woman go and sleep in the bedroom, is that my business? How does that affect the economy? How does that put food in my mouth? Does that affect my education? So, I have a different view altogether. I think the whole concept, to me, is completely out of place... We are preoccupied with someone sitting with a man or a woman sitting with a woman as being a national issue. The whole thing about LGBT+ is a nonsense issue; it should not have come in the first place," 3news.com quoted him as having said.
About the passage of the anti-gay bill:
The Parliament of Ghana on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, passed the Promotion of Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, widely known as the Anti-LGBT+ Bill.
The bill, currently awaiting presidential assent, proscribes Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) activities and criminalizes their promotion, advocacy, and funding.
Persons caught in these acts will be subjected to a six-month to three-year jail term, with promoters and sponsors facing a three to five-year jail term.
The bill will now require presidential assent to come into force.
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However, if President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo refuses to assent to the bill, parliament, by a two-third majority vote, can approve it into law.
Meanwhile, the president has refused to respond to the bill as he awaits the outcome of the Richard Dela Sky case at the Supreme Court before deciding on the next line of action.
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