Parliament must protest Mahama’s embarrassment – Foh-Amoaning

Mr. Moses Foh-Amoaning, the Executive Secretary and Spokesperson for the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, has called on parliament to pass a resolution protesting against the hostile attitude of Scottish parliamentarians to President John Dramani Mahama over LGBT rights.

On Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.3 FM, the astute Lawyer said: “the protest by the MSPs is an affront on us as Ghanaians and Africans at large”, urging parliament to disapprove the unfriendly attitude meted out to Ghana’s leader following his visit to the Scottish parliament.

“Let’s have a bi-partisan debate in parliament on the issue and pass a resolution telling the Scottish parliament that we object to the way they treated our President- it is unfair and you cannot begin to impose a certain moral view on us.

“I will hope that our parliamentarians will all contribute and make a statement in the House; All the other political leaders should back the President- because they have disgraced Africans by this action. We are not in an era of colonialism,” he said.

He described as cultural imperialism the attempt by the Western World to impose homosexuality on Africans, saying African leaders will fail its people if they allow the act to fester and gain roots within the continent.

Mr. Foh-Amoaning said there was no scientific, theological and legal or any psychiatric basis for homosexuality and for that matter Africa and the rest of the World must be courageous enough to speak against it.

Ghana is one of 75 countries around the world where it is still illegal to be gay, carrying a sentence of up to three years in prison.

Opposition MSPs in Scottish government say the recent invitation to the president of Ghana to address MSPs undermined the safety of the Scottish parliament for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, giving Ghana’s strong stance against LGBT.

They said: “We believe that the Scottish parliament should be a place where everyone can feel safe. Yet the invitation to President John Dramani Mahama to address MSPs can only undermine this, given his full support for the horrific discriminatory laws towards the LGBT community in his country.”

Mahama received muted applause from the Holyrood chamber as he listened to FMQs on Thursday morning, but a meeting with opposition leaders was cancelled.

After the Scottish parliament’s presiding officer, Tricia Marwick, said she would “extend the hand of friendship” to Mahama, members of the Scottish Greens, including their co-convenor Patrick Harvie, who is gay, wrote to her on Wednesday to urge caution.