'Show me one benefit of homosexuality' - Sam George to Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill critics

The Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram Constituency, Sam George, who led the proponents in championing the passage of the anti-LGBTQI+ Bill into law, says it is a red herring for anyone to say Ghana would face sanctions and aid cuts if the law is passed.

Speaking on Rainbow Radio 92.4Fm in the UK via a telephone interview, the lawmaker posited that it is a rhetoric that is put out there that Ghana would suffer aid cuts from our donors if we allow the law to pass.

According to him, at his last check, Ghana gets only 1.5% donor support and if we lose it because of passing the bill into law, it would be insignificant.

"1.5% of our entire budget is donor funded. So we are going to throw away our culture and norms and everything for 1.5 % when we ourselves fund the 98.5%? It makes no sense.

"So, all of this donor support is neither here nor there. It is actually insignificant in the real scheme of things. Since Ghana became a middle-income country, we’ve moved away from donor support.

"The donor support for our budget is minimal and is not something that is injurious to us. It is not something catastrophic if we lose. But the question is, why do we even need that donor support if we had better management of our resources and better management of our country, we would not need donor support.”

He has also challenged anyone who opposes the bill to show one benefit of homosexuality to society.

In his opinion, any society that accepts homosexuality will be burdened with numerous challenges.

”Show me one benefit of homosexuality. I am yet to hear anybody show me one benefit to society of homosexuality. Absolutely, none. I can show you, off the top of my head, ten problems of homosexuality in society. Show me one benefit,” he said.

Sam George also shot down claims that the President has no critical role in ensuring that the law comes into effect.

He said when the parliament passes a law, it does not take effect until the President assents to it.

He said we had witnessed situations where the president promised to assent to laws immediately after parliament passed them, and the anti-LGBTQI+ bill must not be an exception.

"The role of the President is critical because the constitution says that when parliament passes a bill into law, for that law to take effect, the President would have to sign and give presidential assent.

"The only thing we can do is wait for six months. If after six months, he fails to give presidential assent, we have to bring it back to parliament and have a two-thirds majority vote to pass it into law.

" So, the role of the President is critical, and so anyone who says that the President does not really have a role to play doesn’t understand the law-making process.”